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Inland Printing A Binding Oo., Springfield, Mo. 


HOLY SPIRIT 


BY 

THOS. H. WILSON 

n 

AUTHOR OF 

From the Throttle to the Throne 




Price : Cloth, one dollar; paper, fifty cents, postpaid 
Address the Author, Verona, Mo, 



Copyrighted by 
THOS. H. WILSON 
1911 


<»«. i 


V 

rV 


©Cl. A295370 



Thos. H. Wilson 






















DEDICATION. 


To my Parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph J. Wilson, 
who sympathize with me in my efforts to do good, 
this little volume is affectionately dedicated by 


THE AUTHOR. 


PREFACE 


We offer this little volume to the reading pub- 
lic in the hope and with a prayer that it may do 
good. While preparing this work, we labored to 
present the great truths of the subject on which 
it treats in plain, simple language and quoted from 
the Revised Version (American Standard Edition) 
of the Bible. A desire to reach a certain class of 
readers whom other writers have failed to reach 
and the earnest solicitation of a great many of our 
friends who have heard us lecture on some of the 
subjects discussed in this book, induced us to write 
this work. Our prayer is that this little book may 
be blessed to the end that it will be a useful weapon 
in the hands of the followers of Christ in extend- 
ing His Kingdom on earth and that our Heavenly 
Father will save both its readers and its Author. 

















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CONTENTS 


Page 

CHAPTER I. 

The Holy Spirit 19 

CHAPTER II. 

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit 33 

N CHAPTER III. 

Why Christians Can Not Perform Miracles 61 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Sin Against the Holy Spirit 97 

CHAPTER Y. 

The Operation of the Holy Spirit in the Con- 
version of the Sinner 119 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Birth of Water and the Spirit 141 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Reception of the Holy Spirit 163 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Witness of the Holy Spirit 185 





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THE HOLY SPIRIT 


INTRODUCTION 


The subject of the Holy Spirit and His mission 
to earth, is one upon which the religious world is 
greatly divided. The wrong interpretation of the 
Scriptures bearing upon this question, by those who 
would be teachers of the Word, has filled the 
church with confusion, caused divisions among the 
people of God, and made ship-wreck the faith of 
thousands of poor misguided souls who might have 
been among those who 4 ‘stand and rejoice in the 
hope of the glory of God,” could some “Aquila and 
Priscilla, ’ ’ have led them out of their Spiritual dark- 
ness and taught them “the way of the Lord more 
perfectly.” Were people who profess to be the chil- 
dren of God, to unite upon this subject — “all speak 
the same thing” — the walls of sectarianism would 
crumble away, and that blessed condition of unity 
and harmony among the followers of Christ, for 
which He so ardently prayed, would soon be real- 
ized. 

This, like all religious questions, has its theor- 


ll 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ists, who, with strong minds and able pens, are of- 
fering to earth’s inquiring millions, a solution of 
its problems. Doubtless in America, where religious 
liberty is guaranteed to all, the minds of the peo- 
ple have been more active than in any other coun- 
try. Some pride themselves in quoting that pass- 
age of Scripture in which Jesus said, ‘ 4 Verily, ver- 
ily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the 
works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works 
than these shall he do; because I go unto the 
Father.” — John 14:12. Those who advocate divine 
healing claim that Jesus opened the blind eyes, un- 
stopped the deaf ears, gave speech to the dumb, 
and raised the dead; and since He said “He that 
believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do 
also.” they argue that they must be able to per- 
form such miracles in order to be His disciples. 
Others deny the doctrine of divine healing and will 
stand for hours, making buildings and forests ring 
with the echoes of their eloquent voices as they 
summon all the power of their mental skill in try- 
ing to refute the claims of those who affirm that 
the disciples of our Lord have the gift of healing, 
the same now, as did those who lived during the 
Apostolic days. They affirm and reaffirm that the 
divine gifts of healing and prophecy belong only 


12 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


to that age in which the Apostles lived. They turn 
their piercing eyes upon a sea of faces ; they stamp 
their feet as if they were crushing the life out of 
some deadly foe; and, with one fierce gesture of 
their strong arm, as if to sweep away the very 
ghost of their opponents ’ slaughtered doctrine^ turn 
and with all the boldness of a triumphant general, 
assert that there is not a man living on earth to- 
day, who can, by the divine gift, give sight to the 
blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, or 
life to the dead. But before the last word of their 
bold affirmation dies away upon the ears of their 
auditors, they will turn and lay down a proposition 
that forces them to affirm a greater miracle than 
that which they have denied; they tell the inquir- 
ing sinner that he is totally depraved, wholly in- 
competent to assist, in any way, in securing his own 
salvation from sin; they tell him that until the 
Holy Spirit — independent of the written or spoken 
word — enters his depraved heart, regenerates his 
soul, and opens his blind eyes that he may behold 
the Spiritual light, he can never extricate himself 
from the terrible depths of darkness into which the 
sin of his soul has plunged him. They will go fur- 
ther and tell him that the Holy Spirit comes like 
the wind, in a mysterious manner; often in answer 


13 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


to the prayers of the saints, while at other times 
He comes without any human solicitation what- 
ever. Still there are others, who, while bewildered 
and blinded by these conflicting theories, assert 
that the Holy Spirit and His mission are absolutely 
incomprehensible by the finite mind; and, in proof 
of their position, they quote a part of the sixteenth 
verse of the third chapter of First Timothy, where 
Paul says, “And without controversy great is the 
mystery of godliness.” They wrest the Apostle’s 
words out of their proper connection and put upon 
them a different meaning than that which he in- 
tended to convey. They claim that the mystery is 
the Holy Spirit and His work; and argue that if 
the Holy Spirit is a mystery without controversy, 
all discussion on the subject only tends to inten- 
sify man’s inability to grasp its meaning and bur- 
ies these precious hidden truths still deeper in the 
sea of profound and insolvable mystery. 

We think it useless to stop here and offer our 
objections to the foregoing theories. We are con- 
fident that, under the plain teaching of the Son of 
God, the prayerful student can see the inconsist- 
encies and unscripturalness of these false claims; 
and with the open Bible before him, learn of the 
“more excellent way,” and the means by which 


14 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


God has promised to emancipate the soul from sin. 
However, we will state here that we do not believe 
the mission of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Sure- 
ly, it would not be compatible with the wisdom and 
mercy of our heavenly Father to give us a law 
wrapped up in an incomprehensible mystery and 
punish us with eternal death if we fail to keep it. 
Isaiah says, “And a highway shall be there, and a 
way, and it shall be called The way of holiness ; the 
unclean shall not pass over it ; but it shall be for the 
redeemed: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall 
not err therein.” If the pathway to heaven is so 
plain that the wayfaring men, though they be sim- 
pletons, shall not err therein, the office work of the 
Holy Spirit on earth can be no less so, as it is with 
our salvation that His mission has to do. 

We are not vain enough to think that we can 
answer all of the questions bearing upon this sub- 
ject, and thus accomplish something that stronger 
minds, abler pens, and more devoted hearts have 
failed to do; but we do think we can give a satis- 
factory answer, at least, to a few of the more prac- 
tical ones with which our redemption from sin is 
concerned. Paul says, “But foolish and ignorant 
questionings refuse, knowing that they gender 
strifes,” — ii Tim., 2:23, and Moses says, “The se- 


15 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


cret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the 
things that are revealed belong unto us and to our 
children forever, that we may do all the words of 
this law.” — Deut., 29:29. It shall be our purpose 
to try to ‘ ‘ avoid foolish and ignorant questionings, ’ ’ 
and thus heed the admonition of the great Apostle, 
but will call attention to a few of the blessed truths 
which are revealed. 

For the sake of clearness, we will divide our 
subject into eight divisions, which are: 1st, The 
Holy Spirit; 2d, The Baptism of the Holy Spirit; 
3d, Why Christians Cannot Perform Miracles ; 
4th, The Sin Against the Holy Spirit; 5th, The 
Operation of the Holy Spirit in the Conversion of 
the Sinner; 6th, The Birth of Water and the Spirit; 
7th, The Reception of the Holy Spirit; and 8th, 
The Witness of the Spirit. 

We will take up these divisions separately and 
discuss them in the order as stated, the first of 
which is, The Holy Spirit. 


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THE HOLY SPIRIT 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is ex- 
pedient for you that I go away; for if I go not 
away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but 
if I go, I will send him unto you. And he, when he 
is come, will convict the world in respect of sin, 
and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, be- 
cause they believe not on me; of righteousness, be- 
cause I go to the Father, and ye behold me no 
more; of judgment, because the prince of this 
world hath been judged. — John 16:7-11. 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER I. 


THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

The Bible teaches us that there is One God, 
Our Father; One Lord Jesus Christ, — Our Saviour; 
One Holy Spirit, Our Comforter. It also teaches 
us that the Holy Spirit is a person; and, as such, 
He is separate from the Father and Son but is one 
with them in nature, purpose, and work. Acting 
upon the presumption that no one will question 
our first affirmation, but believing the last two will 
need to be proved to satisfy the minds of some who 
may be among our readers, we will take them up 
in the order stated and offer the following proofs 
for their substantiation. 

2d. Does the Bible teach that the Holy Spirit 
is a person and that, as such, He is separate from 
the Father and Son? We believe it does. It is true 
that when we attempt to understand all of the facts 
of the divine and ineffable relation of the Deity, we 
become lost in its sublimity and vastness. Such 
matters are far beyond the reach of our feeble 

31 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


minds. They are, “the secret things,” and belong 
not to us; and every effort upon our part to solve 
their incomprehensible mysteries is but an attempt 
to grow wise above that which is written. This, 
however, should not discourage us in trying to un- 
derstand all God teaches upon the subject, but let 
us turn to “the law and the testimony,” and learn 
those “things which are revealed.” 

That the Holy Spirit is a person is evident, we 
think, from the following reasons: (a) Jesus men- 
tions the Holy Spirit as a person and, as such, re- 
fers to Him in the masculine gender. He says 
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he 
shall guide you into all the truth : for he shall not 
speak from himself; but what things soever he 
shall hear, these shall he speak; and he shall de- 
clare unto you the things that are to come.” — John 
16:13. (b) All of the essential parts of personality, 

together with many personal acts and attributes, 
not ascribable to any object, save a person, are at- 
tributed to him. He hears (John 16:13); He 
knows the things of God (i Cor., 2:10-11); He 
speaks (John 16:13); He prays (Rom., 8:26); He 
guided the Apostles into all truth (John 16:13); 
He reveals the things that God has prepared for 
those who love Him (i Cor., 2 :10) ; He reproves of 


82 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


sin (John 16:9); He strove with men (Gen., 6:3); 
He distributed gifts (i Cor., 12:11); He can be 
grieved (Eph. 4:30); He set bishops over churches 
(Acts 20:28); He forbad Paul preaching in Asia 
(Acts 16:6); and bears witness with the spirits of 
Christians (Rom., 8:16). (c) Men sustain relations 

toward Him such as are possible only toward a per- 
son. They grieve Him (Eph., 4:30); they resist 
Him (Acts 7 :51) ; they sin against Him (Matt., 
12:31) ; they invoke His communion (ii Cor., 13:14) ; 
they rebel against Him (Isa., 63:10); they are 
baptized into His name (Matt., 28:19) ; and they in- 
sult Him (Heb., 10:29.) (d) He is both the Spirit 

of God and the Spirit of Christ (Matt., 3:16; Phil., 
1:19). 

The following proofs, we believe, w T ill show 
clearly that, in person, the Holy Spirit is separate 
from the Father and Son: ‘‘And Jesus, when He 
was baptized, went up straightway from the water ; 
and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he 
saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and 
coming upon him; and lo, a voice out of the heav- 
ens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased. ” — Matt., 3:16-17. From this account 
of the baptism of our Saviour we learn that the 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are separate persons. 


23 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


There in the river, with the baptismal waters drip- 
ping from His garments and the light and innocency 
of heaven stamped upon His sinless face, stood the 
blessed Son of God. In the air, descending like a 
dove to place upon the Lowly One the approval and 
seal of heaven, was the Spirit of God; while, far- 
ther on, the gates of heaven were opened and the 
voice of the Father was heard saying, “this is my 
beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Here the 
three were manifested as three separate personali- 
ties. The Son on earth, the Holy Spirit in the air, 
and the Father in heaven. Jesus mentioned them 
separately when He gave the “every creature” com- 
mission to His Apostles. Hear His words, “Go ye 
therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, 
baptizing them into the name of the Father and of 
the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to 
observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: 
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of 
the world.” — Matt., 28:19-20. 

We are confident the foregoing Bible references 
are sufficient to prove that the Holy Spirit is a per- 
son and, as such, is separate from the Father and 
Son, but in order to satisfy the minds of those who 
would like to have the opinion of scholars on this 
subject, we will quote from the following men whose 

24 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Bible knowledge has seldom, if ever, been question- 
ed: “ Spirit, Holy. The third person of the Trinity, 
whose office work it is to sanctify, or make holy, 
the people of God. The personality of the Holy 
Spirit is implied in the baptismal formula and the 
Apostolic benediction. As the Father and the Son 
are real persons, so must the Holy Spirit be also, 
thus joined with them in the solemn initiatory rite 
cf the church.’ ’ — Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Article, 
“Holy Spirit.” “God — the name of the Supreme 
Being, signifying in Hebrew, * Strong,’ ‘ Mighty.’ It 
is expressive of that, omnipotent power ; and by its 
use here in the plural form, is obscurely taught at 
the opening of the Bible, a doctrine clearly revealed 
in other parts of it; viz., that though God is one, 
there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead — Fa- 
ther, Son, and Holy Spirit, who were engaged in 
the creative work.” — Jamieson, Fausset, and 
Brown’s Commentary on Gen., 1:1. In “The Quer- 
ists’ Drawer,” of the Christian Standard, (June 
5th, 1909) appears the following question with its 
answer: “Do you understand John 15:26, and John 
16:7, 8, 13, 14, as implying the Holy Spirit, and 
would this establish the Trinitarian view of the 
three persons in the Trinity?” Answer, “We take 
it that the Holy Spirit is referred to in the passages 


99 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


indicated, but we do not understand that they es- 
tablish the Trinitarian notion of the three persons 
in one God who is himself a unit. The idea is ab- 
surd and self-contradictory. The Scriptures clearly 
teach that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit 
are three separate and distinct persons. Christ, one 
person, was to pray to the Father, another person, 
and he was to send the Holy Spirit, a third person. 
The idea that it was the same person acting in three 
different capacities is absurd.” 

Believing the foregoing arguments sufficient to 
prove that the Holy Spirit is a person, and as such, 
He is separate from the Father and Son, we pass to 
our third proposition. 

3d. Does the Bible teach us that the Holy 
Spirit is one with the Father and Son in nature, pur- 
pose, and work? We believe it does. In the Fifth 
Chapter and Seventh verse of First John, (King 
James’ translation) we find this language, “For 
there are three that bear record in heaven, the 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these 
three are one.” It is true that this passage is sup- 
posed by some critics to be an interpolation; but 
this, if it be a fact, has never been successfully 
proved, and even if it were, it shows that our posi- 
tion was, at least, believed by early Christians. In 


29 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


what sense, or how are these three one? Do we un- 
derstand the Scriptures to teach that there are three 
persons in one God who is Himself a unit? No. 
Such a position would be at variance with every 
passage of Scripture bearing upon this subject. Do 
we understand the Holy Spirit to be the Spirit of 
God just in the sense we understand a man’s spirit 
to be the spirit of man? We think not. God is 
Spirit and it is not easy to think of the spirit of a 
spirit. Such a position would force us to the con- 
clusion that the Holy Spirit is only a divine in- 
fluence, and emanation, or manifestation of the di- 
vine, a mere impersonal force, instead of a think- 
ing, speaking, and acting person, such as the Bible 
reveals Him to be. How then, we ask, are they one? 
Let us turn to the Bible which, to us, is the end of 
all controversy. In the petition to His Father, 
Jesus prayed that His disciples may be one as He 
and His Father are one. Hear His words, “ Neither 
for these only do I pray, but for them also that be- 
lieve on me through their word ; that they may all 
be one; even as thou. Father, art in me, and I in 
thee, that they also may be in us: that the world 
may believe that thou didst send me. And the glory 
w r hich thou hast given me I have given unto them ; 
that they may be one, even as we are one.” — John 


27 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


17:20-22. Note the expression, “that they may be 
one, even as we are one.” From this we learn that 
God and Christ are one and that, in the sense in 
which they are one, Jesus prayed that His disciples 
should be one in them and one with each other. 
Some one may object here by saying that Jesus did 
not include the Holy Spirit as being one with His 
Father and Himself. That is true, but the passage 
from First John 5:7, which has already been quoted 
and commented upon, says the three — Father, Word, 
and Holy Spirit — bear record in heaven and that 
they are one. This includes the Holy Spirit. How 
are they one? They are one just in the sense Jesus 
prayed for His disciples to be one. Not one in per- 
son; but one in mind, one in purpose, and one in 
work. 

One may ask, “if the Holy Spirit is a person, 
separate from the Father and Son, but one with 
them in mind, purpose, and work, wTiy was He not 
referred to in the Old Testament as such?” It is 
true that, in the Old Testament, neither the Son nor 
the Holy Spirit was clearly revealed as a person, 
separate from the Father and each other. Then it 
was God, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God, 
while in the New Testament the order is, the Father, 
Son, and Holy Spirit. The fact that Jesus was not 


28 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


known in the Old Testament as a person separate 
from the Father and the Holy Spirit is no evidence 
that He did not exist as such. He has always been 
with the Father. Truly did the prophet speak when 
he said, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which 
art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out 
of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to be 
ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, 
from everlasting. ” — Micah 5:2. We can understand 
this subject much better if we will remember just 
here that the phrase, “Word of God,” denotes an 
eternal relation, while the phrase, “Son of God,” 
denotes a temporal relation. As the “Word of God,” 
Jesus was, at least, as far as the divine Record in- 
forms us, co-eternal with the Father. (In the be- 
ginning was the Word) but He became the “Son of 
God,” when He “became flesh,” or was born of the 
virgin Mary (wherefore the holy thing which is be- 
gotten shall be called the Son of God.” — Luke 1 :35.) 
The Holy Spirit, like Christ, is not mentioned in the 
Old Testament as a person, but has always existed as 
such and was co-ordinate with the Father and Word 
in the work of creation, for it was He who “moved 
upon the face of the waters;” (Gen., 1:2), and it 
was by Him that God “garnished the heavens.” 
(Job 26:13.) The Holy Spirit, like Christ, was not 


20 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


known in ancient times as He is known now. Then 
He was known as the “Spirit of God,” but now He 
is known as the “Holy Spirit.” Back in the morn- 
ing of time He brooded over the water and brought 
the light of heaven to penetrate the abysmal depths 
of the chaotic darkness and in the days of Noah He 
strove with men. J. W. McGarvey was asked the 
following question: “When, according to the Scrip- 
tures, did the work and mission of the Holy Spirit 
in leading men to obedience begin?” “I answer,” 
he says, “that His present work of leading men to 
obey Christ, began on the next Pentecost after the 
resurrection of Christ. His former work began be- 
fore the flood (Gen., 6:3).” Christian Standard, 
June 13th, 1908. The Holy Spirit was present in 
the creation (Job 26:13); He testified against the 
wicked (Neh., 9:28-30); He inspired the prophets 
(ii Peter 1:20-21); He guided the Apostles (John 
16:13) ; He bears witness with the spirits of Christ- 
ians (Rom., 8:16) ; and dwells in the hearts of the 
people of God (i Cor., 3:16). 


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V 



THE BAPTISM 
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


There cometh after me he that is mightier than 
I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to 
stoop down and unloose. I baptized you in water; 
but he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit. — Mark 
1 : 7 - 8 . 


84 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER II. 


THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

In studying the subject of the baptism of the 
Ploly Spirit, the reader must bear in mind that, 
since the beginning of time, the Father, Son, and 
the Holy Spirit, have each, during a certain period 
of years, reigned personally (known as persons) up- 
on the earth. These periods we shall, for the sake 
of clearness and convenience, designate as 1st, The 
dispensation of the Father; 2d, The dispensation of 
the Son; and 3d, The dispensation of the Holy 
Spirit. We would not leave the impression, neither 
do we believe, that any one of the three either work- 
ed alone or independent of the other two in any one 
of these dispensations. But, on the other hand, we 
believe the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit have 
been co-workers with each other, both in creation 
and redemption. During the first dispensation, the 
Son and the Holy Spirit worked through the Father ; 
during the second, the Father and Holy Spirit 
worked through the Son ; and during the third, the 


35 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Father and Son work through the Holy Spirit. The 
first dispensation lasted from the creation of Adam 
until the introduction of Christ to the world at His 
baptism. During this period, man knew no divine 
person except the Father. He alone was his King, 
Law-giver, and Object of his worship. Hence, our 
reason for calling this, the first four thousand years 
of the world’s history, the dispensation of the 
Father. The second dispensation lasted from the 
introduction of Christ to the world at His baptism 
until the descent of the Holy Spirit on the first 
Pentecost following His resurrection. With the be- 
ginning of this short period, Jesus entered upon 
His ministry with “power on earth to forgive sins.” 
This is known as Christ’s personal ministry, or the 
dispensation of the Son. The third and last period 
commenced with the descent of the Holy Spirit on 
Pentecost and continues to the present and will 
continue until that day when the Angel shall an- 
nounce that time shall be no more. At the begin- 
ning of this, the third period, the Holy Spirit came 
to the Apostles, guided them into all truth, made 
known to them the mystery of Christ and, through 
His appointed medium, is now “reproving the world 
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” 
Hence, our reason for calling this the dispensation 

3fl 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


of the Holy Spirit. At the close of the first dispen- 
sation, God introduced Christ to the world by say- 
ing, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am well 
pleased. ,, With this introduction, Jesus entered 
upon and continued His personal ministry for about 
three and one-half years, during which time He 
promised His disciples another Comforter — the Holy 
Spirit — “and, being assembled together with them, 
He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but 
to wait for the promise of the Father, which, said 
he, ye heard from me: for John indeed baptized 
with water; but ye shall be baptized in the Holy 
Spirit not many days hence. ’ ’ — Acts 1 :4-5. This 
brings us to our present theme — “The Baptism of 
the Holy Spirit .’ ’ In order that we may make this 
subject plain and easily understood, we shall ask 
and try to give Bible answers to the following ques- 
tions : 

1st, By whom was the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit administered? 2d, To whom was it admin- 
istered? 3d, What were its effects upon those who 
received it? 4th, For what purpose was it admin- 
istered ? 

1st, By whom was the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit administered? 

This question need not consume much of our 


37 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


time. John the Baptist said to them who came to 
him demanding baptism in Jordan, “There cometh 
after me he that is mightier than I, the latchet of 
whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and 
unloose. I baptized you in water; but he shall bap- 
tize you in the Holy Spirit.’ ’ — Mark 1:7-8. From 
this w r e learn that Jesus was to administer the bap- 
tism of the Holy Spirit, as He was the “Mightier 
One” referred to by John. 

2d, To whom was the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit administered? 

That God did, through John the Baptist and 
Christ, promise the baptism of the Holy Spirit to 
certain persons, all Bible readers are agreed, but 
as to whom or how many were to be the recipients 
of this baptism, they are greatly divided. Some be- 
lieve it to be general and perpetual and thus to be 
enjoyed by all Christians of every age, while others 
believe it was to be special and limited to the day 
of miracles, or the first century of the Christian era. 
Those who claim that Christians receive the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit now, think they can see in the 
Holy Scriptures sufficient proof to establish their 
claim. We will now examine some of the passages 
referred to by them that we may be able to ascer- 
tain just what the Bible does teach on this subject. 


38 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


The first passage to which we call attention is found 
in Joel 2 :28-30, and reads as follows : “And it shall 
come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my 
Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons and your daugh- 
ters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream 
dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also 
upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those 
days will I pour out my Spirit. And I will show 
wonders in the heavens and in the earth : blood, and 
fire, and pillars of smoke.” That this prophecy re- 
fers to the baptism of the Holy Spirit is claimed 
by those who advocate the doctrine of present day 
Holy Spirit baptism, to be evident from the ex- 
pression, “pour out of my Spirit,” and that it is to 
be general and perpetual is obvious, they say, from 
the phrase, “upon all flesh.” Their argument is 
that the Holy Spirit was to be poured out upon all 
flesh ; the Christians of the present day constitute a 
part of “all flesh;” therefore, it follows that all 
Christians who have lived since that promise was 
fulfiled have, and those who will yet accept Christ, 
will receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That 
this prophecy does refer to the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit, we believe to be true, but that it teaches that 
all Christians of every age are to receive it, we are 
not prepared to admit. We believe the expression. 


39 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


‘ 1 all flesh,” is to be limited, otherwise it will prove 
entirely too much, even for those who rely upon it 
as a proof text to establish their claim. Paul says, 
“All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one 
flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and an- 
other flesh of birds, and another of fishes.” — i Cor., 
15:39. If the phrase, “upon all flesh” is not to be 
limited, it would prove that the beasts of the fields, 
fowls of the air, and the fishes of the seas are to 
receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit also. One 
may object to this by saying, “all flesh,” means all 
human flesh. Admitting that “all flesh” does not 
include the flesh of fish, birds, and beasts, but sim- 
ply all human flesh, still it proves too much. It 
would include the wicked as well as the righteous 
and, as it is claimed by those who advocate this 
theory that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is in or- 
der to salvation, it would follow that everybody will 
be saved; notwithstanding Jesus says, “wide is the 
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruc- 
tion, and many are they that enter in thereby.” 
Let him who advocates this theory, not only affirm 
that the cold blooded murderer, who, after paint- 
ing his hands red with the blood of his innocent 
and defenseless victim and goes to the scaffold 
cursing the God who created him, is saved by the 


40 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


baptism of the Holy Spirit ; but let him whet up his 
theological sword and champion the cause of Uni- 
versalism, a doctrine which is nowhere taught in 
God’s Word. But says another, “It means all 
Christians.” We see from this reasoning that even 
those who advocate the doctrine of present day 
Holy Spirit baptism, must admit that the expres- 
sion, “all flesh,” must be limited to a very small 
portion of earth’s countless millions. If we are 
warranted in placing the above restrictions, or lim- 
itations upon the declaration, “upon all flesh,” why 
not make others which will be more consistent and 
harmonious with Bible teaching? From this proph- 
ecy we learn that the sons and daughters of those 
who were to receive this baptism were to prophesy, 
their old men were to dream dreams, and their 
young men were to see visions. Are these prophe- 
cies, dreams, and visions to be seen among Christ- 
ians today? If not, the expression, “all flesh” must 
be pruned down to a certain age and people when 
such phenomena were seen. 

When, we ask, was this prophecy fulfilled? The 
language of John the Baptist now claims our atten- 
tion. He said to those who came to him to be bap- 
tized in Jordan, “I baptize you in water; but he 
shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit.” — Mark 1:8. 


41 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


From .this we learn that the long looked for and 
promised Spirit baptism was still in the future in 
John’s day. Let us follow on and see if we can 
locate the time and place of this baptism and the 
people w T ho were to receive it. Just before Jesus 
ascended to heaven, He told His disciples “not to 
depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise 
of the Father, which, said he, ye heard from me: 
for John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall 
be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days 
hence.” — Acts 1:4-5. At this time Jesus ascended 
to His Father and His disciples, after watching 
their beloved teacher and companion as He went 
from their sight into the cloud of heaven, turned 
and went to Jerusalem to wait for the power which 
was to be given them by the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit. Luke tells us what occurred ten days after 
their arrival in Jerusalem. He says, “And when 
the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all 
together in one place. And suddenly there came 
from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty 
wind, and it filled all the house where they were 
sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues 
parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon 
each one of them. And they were all filled with the 
Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, 

4S 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were 
dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, from ev- 
ery nation under heaven. And when this sound was 
heard, the multitude came together, and were con 
founded, because that every man heard them speak 
ing in his own language. And they were all amaz- 
ed and marvelled, saying, Behold, are not all these 
that speak Galilaeans? And how hear we, every 
man in our own language wherein we were born?” 
— Acts 2:1-8. 4 ‘And they were all amazed, and 

were perplexed, saying one to another, What mean- 
eth this? But others mocking said, They are fill- 
ed with new wine. But Peter, standing up with the 
eleven, lifted up his voice, and spake forth unto 
them, saying, ye men of Judaea, and all ye that 
dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and 
give ear unto my words. For these are not drunk- 
en, as ye suppose ; seeing it is but the third hour of 
the day; but this is that which hath been spoken 
through the prophet Joel: And it shall be in the 
last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit 
upon all flesh: And your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, And your young men shall see vis- 
ions, And your old men shall dream dreams: Yea 
and on my servants and on my handmaidens in 
those days will I pour forth of my Spirit ; and they 


43 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the 
heaven above, And signs on earth beneath; Blood, 
and fire, and vapor of smoke.” — Verses 13-19. The 
reader will notice here that ten days before Pente- 
cost, Jesus referred to the phenomena which was 
to take place on that day, and called it the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit ; and Peter, while inspired by the 
Holy Spirit, declared the same to be the fulfilling 
of Joel’s prophecy. Hence, it follows that the prom- 
ise to which Jesus referred and called the baptism 
of the Holy Spirit, and which Peter emphatically 
declared was Joel’s prophecy, was fulfilled on the 
first Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ 
and that the Apostles of our Lord were the only 
recipients. 

Some one will ask, “ Were the Apostles the only 
persons who ever received the baptism of the Holy 
Spirit?” No. There is one more case of the Spirit 
baptism recorded in the New Testament. It is that 
of Cornelius and his house and is mentioned in the 
tenth chapter of Acts. To quote Peter’s language 
in his defense before his Jewish brethren in Jeru- 
salem, will serve our purpose here, but we will dis- 
cuss this case more fully under the heading, “For 
what purpose was the baptism of the Holy Spirit 
administered?” Peter, in justifying himself for 


44 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


preaching to Cornelius, a Gentile, said, “And as I 
began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, even 
as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the 
word of the Lord, how he said, John indeed bap- 
tized with water; but ye shall be baptized in the 
Holy Spirit. If then God gave unto them the like 
gift as he did also unto us, when we believed on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could with- 
stand God?” — Acts 11:15-17. The fact that Peter 
quoted the words of Christ, when He referred to 
the Apostles receiving this baptism, as being also 
applicable to the Gentiles, is sufficiently clear to 
prove that Cornelius and his house received the 
Holy Spirit baptism also. Prom the foregoing Scrip- 
tures we learn that there are two cases of the bap- 
tism of the Holy Spirit recorded in the New Testa- 
ment, one of which took place in Jerusalem on the 
day of Pentecost where the Apostles alone were its 
recipients, and the other occurred at Cesarea where 
Cornelius and his house received it. 

3d, What were the effects of the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit upon those who received it? 

Like causes and environments always produce 
like effects. If those who claim to receive the bap- 
tism of the Holy Spirit now, would do what the 
Apostles did — speak with other tongues, heal the 


45 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


sick, raise the dead, and thus show their faith by 
their works — they would convert the world to their 
manner of thinking much sooner than they can by 
their vain and fruitless assertions. From the Sec- 
ond chapter of Acts we may learn what some of 
the effects of the baptism of the Holy Spirit were 
upon those who reecived it. Luke says, “And when 
the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all 
together in one place. And suddenly there came 
from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty 
wind, and it filled all the house where they were 
sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues 
parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon 
each one of them. And they were all filled with 
the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other ton- 
gues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there 
were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from 
every nation under heaven. And when this sound 
was heard, the multitude came together, and were 
confounded, because that every man heard them 
speaking in his own language. And they were all 
amazed and marvelled, saying, Behold, are not all 
these that speak Galilaeans? And how hear we, 
every man in our own language wherein we were 
born?” The reader will note here that one of the 
peculiar and strange effects of the baptism of the 


46 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Holy Spirit was to enable the Apostles, while speak- 
ing in their own language, to be heard and under- 
stood in about seventeen dialects. To illustrate, 
suppose a Jew were to go before an audience in 
which were representatives of a number of lan- 
guages, not one of whom could understand the 
others, or even a word in any language except his 
own. The Jew begins to speak in his own lan- 
guage, the German understands in the German lan- 
guage, the Frenchman in the French language, the 
Englishman in the English language, the Italian in 
the Latin language, the Greek in the Greek lan- 
guage, etc. Such were the effects of the baptism of 
the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. We frequently 
see people who claim to have the power to speak 
with “unknown” or “other” tongues. They will 
go before an audience and gabber for an hour or 
more at a time. They themselves don’t understand 
what they are saying, nor neither do those who hear 
them. They claim to be of the “Apostolic order,” 
but they are far from it. The difference between 
them and the Apostles can be summed up thusly: 
“They speak in tongues which no one can under- 
stand, while the Apostles spoke in tongues which 
everybody could understand.” 

When Cornelius and his house received the bap- 


47 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


tism of the Holy Spirit, they spoke with tongues 
and magnified God. The Apostles could speak with 
other tongues, cast out devils, heal the sick, open 
the blind eyes, unstop the deaf ears, and raise the 
dead (physical body). The fruit test is the only 
test. Therefore, when those who claim to receive 
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, can perform mir- 
acles like the Apostles did, and thus prove their 
faith by their works, we are ready to hear them, 
but until they can do these things, their claims are 
not worthy of any further consideration. 

4th, For what purpose was the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit administered? 

As we enter into the discussion of this subject 
we are confronted with a number of erroneous 
theories which have been offered to the world as a 
solution of this question. Many of these theories, 
which, a few years ago, were proclaimed from ev- 
ery pulpit in the land and sparkled like so many 
diamonds in the minds of some of the greatest and 
most brilliant theologians of the past, are now 
practically exploded and their lifeless bodies are 
quietly reposing in their creed-like sepulchres, and 
are preserved as relics of our grandfathers, rather 
than for the use of our children. There are, how- 
ever, a few of these theories which have escaped the 


48 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


fate of the others, and like so many refugees from 
some devastated army have, under the guise of Bible 
truths, passed the Scriptural picket lines, entered in- 
to the minds of some of the religious teachers of 
our day and through them are still demanding a 
consideration from a penitent world. One of these 
theories teaches that man is totally depraved, wholly 
averse to all good; and that, until this depravity is 
removed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, he can 
never become a child of God. If this doctrine be 
true, it follows that the Apostles were, for more 
than three and a half years after they became dis- 
ciples of Christ, totally depraved and wholly averse 
to all good, as they were not baptized in the Holy 
Spirit until the first Pentecost following Christ’s 
resurrection. This, we are quite sure, no one is 
prepared to prove. Let us notice the character of 
Cornelius before he was baptized with the Holy 
Spirit and see if this theory will fit his case. Luke 
says he was “a devout man, and one that feared 
God with all his house, who gave much alms to the 
people, and prayed to God always.” — Acts 10:2. 
Surely, a man who was totally depraved and whol- 
ly averse to all good, could not have led a devout 
life, given alms to the people, and prayed to God 
always. But says another, the baptism of the Holy 


49 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Spirit is in order to produce faith. This could not 
have been true with the Apostles because they had 
implicit faith in Christ when they went to Jeru- 
salem to wait for the promised Spirit baptism. It 
was not God’s will that the Gentiles should obtain 
faith by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, for Peter 
says, “Brethren, ye know that a good while ago 
God made choice among you, that by my mouth the 
Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and 
believe.” — Acts 15:7. Paul says, “So belief cometh 
of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” — 
Rom., 10 :17. A third theory teaches that the bap- 
tism of the Holy Spirit is in order to the remission 
of sins. If this position be true, it follows that the 
Apostles were for more than three years without 
the pardon of their sins after they became follow- 
ers of Christ. Surely, the advocates of this theory 
can produce no grounds on which to find fault with 
the doctrine of six months probation. This theory 
will not apply in Cornelius’ case, for Peter was to 
tell him words whereby he and his house should be 
saved. (Acts 11:14.) The Apostles evidently did 
not believe this theory, seeing they commanded be- 
lievers to repent and be baptized unto the remis- 
sion of their sins. (Acts 2:38.) 

For what purpose then, was the baptism of the 


50 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Holy Spirit administered? We have already learn- 
ed that there are but two cases of the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit recorded in the New Testament. The 
first is that of the Apostles at Jerusalem, and the 
second is that of Cornelius and his house at Cesa- 
rea. We will take up these cases separately that 
we may see the purpose for which each was given. 

(1) For what purpose w^as the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit given to the Apostles? Just a short 
time before Jesus was put to death, He said to them, 
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient 
for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the 
Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I go, I 
will send him unto you. And he, when he is come, 
will convict the world in respect of sin, and of 
righteousness, and of judgment : of sin, because 
they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I 
go to the Father, and ye behold me no more ; of 
judgment, because the prince of this world has 
been judged. I have yet many things to say unto 
you, but ye can not bear them now. Howbeit when 
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you 
into all the truth: for he shall not speak from him- 
self; but what things soever he shall hear, these 
shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the 
things that are to come. He shall glorify me: for 


51 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


he shall take of mine, and shall declare it unto you. 
All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine : 
therefore said I, that he taketh of mine, and shall 
declare it unto you.” — John 16:7-15. This Scrip- 
ture teaches us that, although Jesus had been teach- 
ing His Apostles the great truths of His coming 
Kingdom, there were some things which they were 
not prepared to understand and that it would re- 
quire another Comforter or teacher to remind them 
of the things which He had told them and to ap- 
prise^ them of those things which they, at the time 
Jesus was with them, could not bear. When Christ 
died on the cross He abrogated the Law of Moses, 
(ii Cor., 3:7-14; Col., 2:14-15) thus leaving the peo- 
ple of God without a written law. After He rose 
from the dead, He came to His Apostles and said. 
“All authority hath been given to me in heaven 
and on earth. Go ye therefore, and make disciples 
of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of 
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
commanded you : and lo, I am with you always, even 
unto the end of the world.” — Matt., 28:18-20. How 
could the Apostles of our Lord go and teach all na- 
tions when the Law of Moses, under which they had 
lived all their lives, was abolished and not a word 


52 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


of the New Testament had been written? How 
could they go and teach in all of the languages of 
the earth, when they knew none except their own 
and were unlearned even in it? If we will follow 
them from that place ever made sacred to them by 
the ascension of their Lord and Master, to that 
upper room and remain with them until the prom- 
ised Spirit baptism comes, listen to them as they 
preach to that great multitude, facts both new and 
old, and learn the wonderful secret of that great 
power by which, in a moment’s time, they became 
so proficient in all the languages of the world, we 
will have no trouble in seeing the purpose for which 
they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In 
order to carry out the great commission given to 
them by our Lord, the Apostles had to be endowed 
with a knowledge and invested with a power such 
as no human being had ever possessed. Though not 
a word of the New Testament had been written, yet 
they had to be able to teach that the Law which 
was given to Moses on the summit of a trembling 
Sinai, and which, for fourteen hundred years, had 
been the only and supreme law in Israel, was abol- 
ished; and that Jesus had appeared in the end of 
the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Him- 
self. It was necessary that they be able to under- 


53 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


stand and speak all of the languages of the world. 
It was important that they remember everything 
that Jesus had told them during the three and a 
half years He was with them on earth, and that 
other great and important truths should be reveal- 
ed to them. It was necessary that they be able to 
confirm the truths which they taught by perform- 
ing miracles, and that they leave a written guide 
for the instruction and comfort of the saints of all 
ages. On the day of Pentecost this knowledge and 
power came to them through the baptism of the 
Holy Spirit, revealed to them the symbolical signifi- 
cance of the rent in the veil — the passing away of 
the Mosaic Law — brought to their remembrance all 
things that Jesus had told them, enabled them to 
speak with other tongues and thus thoroughly qual- 
ified them in every way to carry out the great Com- 
mission as “they went forth, and preached every- 
where, the Lord working with them, and confirming 
the word by the signs that followed;” and, before 
the sting of their bitter persecution and the cold of 
the dark damp prison palsied their hands, or the 
headman’s axe silenced their tongues, they left a 
written record — the New Testament — which “is 
also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correc- 
tion, for instruction which is in righteousness: that 


54 


THE HOLY SPIR1 T 


the man of God may be complete, furnished com- 
pletely unto every good work.” 

(2) For what purpose was Cornelius and his 
house baptized with the Holy Spirit? The reader, 
doubtless, has noticed from the reading of the 
Scriptures that the gospel was not preached to any 
people except the Jews, either on Pentecost, or for 
more than eight years afterward. Notwithstanding 
Jesus had said, “Other sheep I have, which are 
not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they 
shall hear my voice; and they shall become one 
flock, one shepherd,” and that the Apostles had, 
since Pentecost, been laboring under a commission 
which, when its terms of pardon are accepted, makes 
every creature of earth an heir to heaven ; yet, they 
did not understand that it embraced any save those 
who were of the seed of Abraham. The Apostles 
had been schooled under the Law of Moses. This 
Law, for more than fourteen hundred years, had 
been held sacred by their Fathers. By it they gov- 
erned the family, city, and nation. To induce them 
to give up this Law and accept one in its stead, 
which, in many vital points, contradicted the 
teaching of Moses, required some divine in- 
terference. This, as has already been shown, 
was accomplished when the Apostles received the 


55 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


baptism of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. But there 
was another great change to take place in their 
social and ecclesiastical lives. They had looked up- 
on the Gentiles as an unclean, unworthy, and a for- 
eign people, and as having no part or blessing in 
any law emanating from God. Notwithstanding 
they had been living under the Abrahamic promise 
which was to bless all nations and had, since Pen- 
tecost, been working under a law which offered sal- 
vation to “every creature,” yet they place upon 
the world-wide Commission, the same narrow limits 
which always characterized the Mosaic Law and 
were perfectly blind to any clause in the Law of 
Christ that would bless a Gentile. So biased and 
unprepared were they for the reception of the Gen- 
tiles into the Church that, in the wisdom of God, it 
was postponed for more than eight years after Pen- 
tecost. But the time had now come when the Gen- 
tiles were to be admitted into the fold of Christ. 
Peter held the keys of the Kingdom and he must be 
induced to open its Spiritual door and receive the 
Gentiles into the Church of Christ and into full fel- 
lowship with the Jews. This, like the other change, 
was so radical and so foreign to their former teach 
ing that it required the baptizing of a Gentile with 
the Holy Spirit, that the Jews may understand that 


56 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


“to the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance 
unto life.” Hence, it is easy to see that there were 
two great epochs connected with the proclamation 
of the gospel to the world. The first we shall call 
the Jewish epoch and the second, that of the Gen- 
tiles. The first epoch dates from Jerusalem on the 
day of Pentecost when the gospel was preached to 
the Jews, while the second dates from Cesarea when, 
for the first time, God granted repentance unto life 
to the Gentiles. As the beginning of the first epoch 
was attended by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so 
must the second be also ; and, as Peter, to whom 
Jesus had given the keys of the Kingdom, unlocked 
the Spiritual institution and admitted the Jews into 
the one body, so he was the proper and only quali- 
fied person to open wider its doors of grace and re- 
ceive the Gentiles into “the fullness of the bless- 
ings of the gospel of Christ.” When the fullness 
of the time had come and God, in His infinite wis- 
dom, saw fit to bring the Gentiles into His King- 
dom, there were four things necessary to its accom- 
plishment. First, there had to be a Gentile sub- 
ject. For this, God selected Cornelius “a devout 
man, and one that feared God with all his house, 
who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to 
God always.” — Acts 10:2. Second, Cornelius had 


57 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


to be instructed to send for Peter that he might 
learn what he ought to do. God did this by send- 
ing an angel to speak directly to him. (Acts 10:3-6.) 
Third, Peter must be satisfied within his own mind 
that the Gentiles were not common or unclean, 
and that he must go with the men whom Cornelius 
had sent, “doubting nothing.’ ’ God did this by a 
vision and a voice from heaven. (Acts 10:9-20.) 
Fourth, Peter had to be convinced that “God is no 
respecter of persons, but in every nation he that 
feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accept- 
able to him,” and that he must teach and baptize 
the Gentiles as well as the Jews. This was accom- 
plished by Cornelius relating the story of the An- 
gel’s visit and God baptizing him (Cornelius) and 
his house with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 10:28-48.) 

From the foregoing we learn that the purpose of 
the baptism of the Holy Spirit when given to the 
Apostles, was to thoroughly qualify them to go in- 
to all the world, preach the gospel to every creature 
and confirm their words with signs following ; and, 
Avhen it was given to Cornelius and his house it was 
that Peter and his Jewish brethren might know 
that the Gentiles were no longer unclean, but that 
they could do God’s “commandments, that they 
may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter 
in through the gates into the city.” 


58 




WHY CHRISTIANS 
CANNOT PERFORM 
MIRACLES 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


And these signs shall accompany them that be- 
lieve : in my name shall they cast out demons ; they 
shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up 
serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it 
shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on 
the sick, and they shall recover. — Mark 16:17-18. 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER III. 


WHY CHRISTIANS CAN NOT PERFORM 
MIRACLES. 

The question of working miracles in this age 
has caused a great deal of useless comment and 
harmful discussion among the children of God. 
These debates, instead of uniting the followers of 
Christ and crowning Him King of every heart, have 
resulted in dividing His people and greatly hinder- 
ing the growth of His Kingdom on earth. There 
are a great many theories touching upon this ques- 
tion, each one of which has its champion who has 
robed himself in his pugilistic armor, walked out 
in the arena of oral war-fare and, since the day in 
which the immortal Luther broke the Papal yoke and 
placed an open Bible in almost every home, the roar 
of the theological cannons has echoed through the 
Church of the living God. And, judging from the 
noise of battle, the conflict is not ended. Division 
— the enemy to God and all righteousness — is nei- 
ther dead nor wounded. Not one of his generals 


63 

< 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


has met his Waterloo, no Wellington has appeared 
on the field, nor has any David presented to the 
“Prince of Peace,” the severed head of this annoy- 
ing Gfoliath. 

To some who have never “come to a knowl- 
edge of the truth,” the lack of miracles among 
Christians of this age, is a matter of no little con- 
cern. They wonder if, among the multiplied mil- 
lions of Christ ’s followers, there is not one who has 
the faith of a mustard seed. They read in the New 
Testament where the Apostles and other Christians 
of the first century cast out devils, spoke with 
other tongues, and healed the sick ; and where J esus 
said such signs and miracles should follow them that 
believe. They wonder why it is that when the 
Christian touches the blind eyes, they remain closed, 
or when the believer drinks poison, he succumbs to 
its deadly effects. They argue that the Christians 
who live in this age should either perform miracles 
or give a Bible reason why they can not. Their 
claim is a just one and therefore it behooves every 
professed follower of Christ to either confirm his 
faith by some miraculous demonstration, or be able 
to give a Scriptural reason ‘ ‘ why Christians can not 
perform miracles.” There are some professed Christ- 
ians who claim they can work miracles. We will 


64 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


not take the readers’ time just here to discuss their 
false assumptions, farther than to say, that, if be- 
lievers in this and every other age since the 
Apostles’ day could perform miracles, this question 
would have long ago been taken off of the debat- 
able list. Theirs, if true, is the easiest of all propo- 
sitions proved. Instead of loud assertions and forc- 
ed Scriptural interpretations, if the advocates of 
this theory will, like Christ and the Apostles, come 
out in the open, speak intelligently in languages 
which they have never studied, toy with venomous 
serpents, drink deadly poison, and cure the sick 
instantly, intelligent men and women will no longer 
doubt their claim. In order to ascertain the reason 
why Christians can not perform miracles, it will be 
necessary to call attention to several Scriptures 
treating on this subject, the first of which reads as 
follows: “And afterward he was manifested unto 
the eleven themselves as they sat at meat; and he 
upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of 
heart, because they believed not them that had seen 
him after he was risen. And he said unto them, 
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
the whole creation. He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall 
be condemned. And these signs shall accompany 


G5 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


them that believe: in my name shall they cast out 
demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they 
shall take up serpents, and if they drink any dead- 
ly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall 
lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover/’ — 
Mark 16:14-18. 

As a result of the wrong interpretations put 
upon it by some Bible readers, this Scrip- 
ture seems to be the ground over which 
so many fierce battles have been fought, as well 
as that hidden rock upon which so many poor- 
ly manned vessels — souls — have been driven by the? 
waves of doubt and swallowed up in the sea of 
despair and unbelief. The infidel fortifies himself 
behind this Scripture and when he sees a soldier of 
the cross who is spending more of his time in mak- 
ing “friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,” 
than he is in laying up “treasures in heaven,” or, 
a new recruit who has just donned the Christian ar- 
mor but j^et unskilled in wielding the “Sword of 
the Spirit,” he turns “a broad side” loose on him 
by asking if he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son 
of God? He is answered in the affirmative. The infi- 
del will then ask if he can perform the miracles 
which Jesus said should follow them that believe! 
He answers in the negative. The infidel will then 


66 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


use the following arguments: “ Jesus said that 
those who believe on Him should perform miracles; 
you can’t perform miracles; therefore, you don’t 
believe.” Or, “If the Bible is true; all who be- 
lieve can perform miracles; you believe, but can’t 
perform miracles; therefore, the Bible is not true.” 
While the logician might be able to show the weak- 
ness and successfully combat these syllogistic de- 
ductions, but to him who is unacquainted with this 
manner of reasoning, they will come with all the 
force of real and unanswerable arguments. These 
and other like blows from the trained minds of 
skilled infidels are liable to shatter, if not complete- 
ly overthrow the faith of the babe in Christ. For 
this and other reasons, every child of God should 
make the Bible his daily companion that he might 
be able at all times to give “a reason concerning 
the hope that is” within him. 

When Jesus said, “these signs shall accompany 
them that believe,” did He mean to teach that this 
miracle working power was to be special and limit- 
ed to a few of His followers of the first century, or 
that it was to be general and perpetuated through- 
out the Christian age? To ascertain just what our 
blessed Master meant by this language, let us ask 
and, if possible, give Scriptural answers to the fol- 
lowing questions: 


67 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


1st, To whom was the special and divine power 
by which miracles were performed, given? 2d, For 
what purpose was it given ? 3d, When did it cease ? 
4th, Why did it cease? 

1st, To whom was the special and divine power 
by which miracles were performed, given? 

One may say that this question was answered 
more than eighteen hundred years ago by the Sav- 
iour Himself ; and, according to His own words, this 
power was given to “them that believe;” there- 
fore, it should be enjoyed by all Christians. Is this 
position true? Did Jesus teach that “these signs” 
should follow all believers of the first and all suc- 
ceeding centuries of the Christian era? We think 
not. There is a rule in grammar which says, “A 
pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person, 
number, and gender.” By applying this rule to 
our Savious’s language we will be able to see just 
whom He meant that these signs were to follow. 
The first verse of the Scripture in question reads as 
follows: “And afterward he was manifested unto 
the eleven themselves as they sat at meat ; and he 
upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of 
heart, because they believed not them that had seen 
him after he was risen.” In this verse Jesus cen- 
sures His disciples for not believing those who had 


08 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


seen Him since He had risen from the dead. This 
sharp rebuke is the key which must unlock and 
open to our understanding the seventeenth and 
eighteenth verses. The reader will note that, be- 
ginning with the fourteenth verse, there is a suc- 
cession of plural pronouns running through all of 
the remaining verses of the chapter, except the 
sixteenth, the antecedent of which is, 44 eleven ,’ ’ 
mentioned in the fourteenth verse. The sixteenth 
verse is a parenthetical insertion and has no gram- 
matical connection with any part of the chapter, as 
is clearly indicated by the singular noun ‘ 4 crea- 
ture” and pronoun 4 4 he.” The 4 4 creature” and 
4 4 he” mentioned in the sixteenth verse, represent 
the general believer and are not to be contemplat- 
ed as being among those commissioned to preach 
the gospel and perform miracles, but rather among 
those to whom the Apostles were to preach and for 
whose benefit these miracles were to be performed. 
After having thrown in the sixteenth verse as a 
parenthetical expression, having general application 
to every believer, the Lord takes up the thread of 
His special discourse to His Apostles, indicated in 
the fourteenth verse as the 4 4 eleven” saying, 4 4 And 
these signs shall accompany them that believe.” To 
locate those who were to be the recipients of this 


69 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


special power to perform miracles, let us look for 
the antecedent of the pronoun “them,” remember- 
ing that, like its pronoun, it must be in the third 
person, plural number, and common gender. We 
go back over the chapter until we come to the six- 
teenth verse. Here we find the noun “creature,” 
having reference to the believer in general, but it 
can not be the antecedent of the pronoun “them,” 
because “creature” is singular, while “them” is 
plural. We go on until we come to the fourteenth 
verse where we find the noun “eleven,” referring 
to the Apostles, and as there is no other plural noun 
between it and the pronoun “them” in the seven- 
teenth verse, it follows as a grammatical deduction 
that “these signs” were to follow the Apostles and 
not the “every creature” whom the Apostles were 
to teach and baptize. This argument is strengthen- 
ed by the last verse of the chapter which says, “and 
they (the Apostles) went forth, and preached ev- 
erywhere, the Lord working with them, and con- 
firming the word by the signs that followed.” Some 
people, doubtless, will object to this argument. They 
may claim that those who lived at the time Christ 
was on earth knew but little and were less obser- 
vant of the rules governing the use of language, 
than are the people of this age. This objection is, 


70 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


within itself, sufficient evidence to warrant the con- 
clusion that those who offer it are incompetent to 
criticise the grammatical and rhetorical ability of 
the writers and speakers of the first century. 
“But,” says one, “suppose we do admit that the 
grammatical position is correct and that it proves 
that the signs mentioned in the sixteenth chapter 
of Mark were to follow the Apostles only, it does 
not justify the conclusion that, because none of the 
Apostles are now living, miracles have necessarily 
ceased, for the Bible teaches that persons who were 
not Apostles, performed miracles.” While the 
signs mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of Mark, 
were to follow the Apostles only, it is an undisput- 
able fact that, since the beginning of the Spiritual 
reign on Pentecost, persons, other than those com- 
missioned as Apostles, did perform miracles, but 
they, with one exception, (Cornelius and his house) 
did not receive this power directly from the Lord 
as did the Apostles, but by the “laying on of the 
Apostles’ hands.” — (Acts 6:6; 8:17.) 

The New Testament plainly teaches that, since 
the first Pentecost following the resurrection of 
Christ, the special and divine power by which mir- 
acles were performed, was given to three classes 
of believers, (a) It was given to the Apostles. They 


71 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


could cast out devils, (Acts 5:16) ; speak with other 
tongues, (Acts 2 :4) ; heal the sick, (Acts 9 :33-34) ; 
handle serpents, (Acts 28:1-5) ; and raise the dead, 
(Acts 9:40; 20:9-10). (b) It was given to Cornelius 
and his house. This was a special case and has been 
discussed at some length in another part of this 
work, (c) It was given to those upon whom the 
Apostles laid their hands. To prove this assertion, 
we quote the following language: “And the twelve 
called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and 
said, It is not fit that we should forsake the word 
of God, and serve tables. Look ye out therefore, 
brethren, from among you seven men of good re- 
port, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may 
appoint over this business. But we will continue 
steadfastly in prayer, and in the ministry of the 
word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude ; 
and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of 
the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and 
Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus a 
proselyte of Antioch; whom they set before the 
Apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid 
their hands upon them. And the word of God in- 
creased ; and the number of the disciples multiplied 
in Jerusalem exceedingly; and a great company of 
the priests were obedient to the faith. And Step- 


72 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


hen, full of grace and power, wrought great won- 
ders and signs among the people.” — Acts 6:2-8. The 
reader will note that, from Pentecost to the ordina- 
tion of the seven, no one is referred to as having 
worked miracles except the Apostles; and that, im- 
mediately following this ordination, “Stephen full 
of grace and power, wrought great wonders and 
signs among the people,” and Philip went to Sa- 
maria, preached the gospel and worked miracles, 
but it was after the Apostles had “laid their hands 
on them.” 

That all who performed miracles, except the 
Apostles and Cornelius and his house, received this 
miracle working power “through laying on of the 
Apostles hands”, and not directly from the Lord, 
may be further proved by the following Scrip- 
tures : “Now when the Apostles that were 
at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had re- 
ceived the word of God, they sent unto them 
Peter and John: who, when they were come down, 
prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy 
Spirit: for as yet it was fallen upon none of them: 
only they had been baptized into the name of the 
Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, 
and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when 
Simon saw that through the laying on of the Apos- 


73 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ties’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered 
them money, saying, Give me also this power, that 
on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive 
the Holy Spirit.” — Acts 8:14-19. Again, “And it 
came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, 
Panl having passed through the upper country 
came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples: and 
he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit 
when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, 
we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit 
was given. And he said, Into what then were you 
baptized? And they said, Into John’s baptism. And 
Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of re- 
pentance, saying unto the people that they should 
believe on him that should come after him, that is, 
on Jesus. And when they heard this, they were 
baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. And 
when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy 
Spirit came -on them; and they spake with tongues, 
and prophesied.” — Acts 19:1-6. Paul said to Tim- 
othy, “For which cause I put thee in remembrance 
that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee 
through the laying on of my hands.” — ii Tim.. 1:6. 
Again, he wrote to the brethren at Rome saying, 
“For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you 
some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be establish- 


74 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ed.” — Rom., 1:11. Had this miracle working power 
been given to the early Christians directly from the 
Lord, or in any other way, except through the im- 
position of Apostolic hands, it would not have been 
necessary for Paul to have seen the disciples at 
Rome in order to impart to them “some spiritual 
gift.” 

While the Apostles had the power to impart 
miracles to others, those to whom they gave the 
power, could not impart it to any one else. Or, in 
other words, the Apostles’ power was two fold. 
They had a miracle working power, which they could 
impart to others; and, they had a miracle impart- 
ing power, which was peculiar to the Apostolic office 
and was not transferable. Therefore, common rea- 
son will teach us that miracles were not to be gen- 
eral and perpetuated throughout the Christian era, 
but special and limited to the Apostles and those 
upon whom they laid their hands. Hence, after 
the death of the Apostles, this power was no longer 
imparted to others; and, after the death of those 
to whom the Apostles imparted it, miracles neces- 
sarily ceased. One may say, “Your arguments are 
conclusive, provided the New Testament teaches 
that no person, except an Apostle, could impart the 
power to work miracles to others.” That the New 


75 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Testament does so teach, we believe is evident from 
the following Scripture: “Now when the Apostles 
that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had re- 
ceived the word of God, they sent unto them Peter 
and John: who, when they were come down, prayed 
for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit: 
for as yet it was fallen upon none of them : only 
they had been baptized into the name of the Lord 
Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and 
they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon 
saw that through the laying on of the Apostles’ 
hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them 
money, saying, Give me also this power, that on 
whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the 
Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him, Thy silver 
perish with thee, because thou hast thought to ob- 
tain the gift of God with money. Thou hast nei- 
ther part not lot in this matter : for thy heart is not 
right before God.” — Acts 8:14-21. Surely, if any 
one, except an Apostle, could have conferred this 
miracle working power upon others, Philip could, 
as he was a man of honest report, full of the Holy 
Spirit, and wisdom. But the very fact that he did 
not is strong, if not conclusive evidence that he 
could not. If, however, he could have conferred 
this gift, the mission of the Apostles was useless, as 


76 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


the chief purpose for which they went from Jeru- 
salem to Samaria, was to lay their hands on the 
newly made disciples and pray “that they might 
receive the Holy Spirit. ’ ’ Why was it necessary for 
the Apostles to go to Samaria, if Philip could have 
imparted this gift? Again, “when Simon saw that 
through the laying on of the Apostles’ hands the 
Holy Spirit was given,” he wanted to buy the gift 
to impart this power to others and, in so doing, 
committed a grievous sin, but Peter said to him, 
“thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for 
thy heart is not right before God.” Why did he 
have neither part nor lot in this matter? Was it 
because he had never been a Christian? No. Luke 
says he believed and was baptized, and Jesus says, 
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” 
— Mark 16:16. Was the reason he had neither part 
nor lot in imparting the Holy Spirit, because he 
had sinned and his heart was not (at that time) 
right before God? His miserable and wretched con- 
dition of mind would, no doubt, have disqualified 
even an Apostle, but the answer, “thou has neither 
part nor lot in this matter : for thy heart is not right 
before God,” is not to be limited to the reason 
given, for if his heart had been right, still he would 
have had no part in the matter, because the Holy 


77 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Spirit was given “ through laying on of the Aposh 
ties’ hands,” and he was not an Apostle. The facts 
surrounding this and the other cases recorded in 
the sixth and nineteenth chapters of Acts, warrant 
the conclusion that the miraculous gift of the Holy 
Spirit was bestowed through no human hands but 
those of the Apostles’. 

We conclude this division of our subject by 
stating that the special and divine power by which 
miracles w r ere performed, was given to the Apos- 
tles, Cornelius and his house, and those upon whom 
the Apostles laid their hands. 

2d, For what purpose was the special and di- 
vine power by which miracles were performed, 
given V 

The failure on the part of some Bible readers 
to understand just to whom this power was given, 
is largely responsible for the different views among 
God’s people, as to the purpose for which it was 
given. Some may claim that it was given to remit 
sins. This can’t be true, for Peter tells us that, 
when preceded by faith, repentance and baptism 
are for the remission of sins, (Acts 2:38.) What 
then, was the purpose for which this power was 
given? By a careful perusal of the Old and New 
Testaments, the reader will see that God had a two 


78 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


fold purpose in endowing certain persons with this 
miraculous power during the centuries in which He 
was preparing the world for the reception of His 
Spiritual Kingdom. In both instances, however, its 
work was to be temporary. (a) This power 
was given in order to attrat the attention and con- 
vince the unbelievers that the words spoken by in- 
spired teachers were true, (b) It was given to the 
Apostles and those upon whom they conferred it, 
to enable them to remember and teach the truths 
of the gospel and, in many other ways, to take the 
place of the New Testament until it was committed 
to writing near the close of the first century, at 
which time, as we shall see later, prophecies, 
tongues, and miraculous knowledge gave place to 
the written word. We will take up these assertions- 
in the order stated and see whether or not the Bible 
will bear us out in them. 

(a) Was this power given to attract the atten- 
tion and convince the unbelievers that the words 
spoken by the inspired teachers were true? We be- 
lieve the following Scriptures will prove the cor- 
rectness of this position: Paul says, “Wherefore 
tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but 
to the unbelieving. ’ ’ — i Cor., 14:22. There are many 
examples in both the Old and New Testaments 


79 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


where God, through His servants, employed miracu- 
lous means, in connection with spoken words, to 
shatter the doubts and produce faith in the hearts 
of unbelievers. The hard hearted and tyrannical 
Pharaoh, when entreated by Moses and Aaron to 
let the children of Israel go and sacrifice to the 
Lord, said, “who is Jehovah, that I should hearken 
unto his voice to let Israel go ? I know not J ehovah, 
and moreover I will not let Israel go.” — Ex., 5:2. 
But when he saw the wonderful manifestation of 
the divine power exhibited by Aaron as he convert- 
ed his rod into a serpent, and by its magical touch, 
turned the waters into blood, and brought the loath- 
some insects from the dust, his stubborn will was 
broken and, pleading with the servants of God to 
entreat for him, said, “I will let you go, that ye 
may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilder- 
ness.” — Ex., 8:28. When Elijah raised the widow’s 
son from the dead, she said, “now I know that thou 
art a man of God, and that the word of Jehovah in 
thy mouth is true.” — i King 17:24. Again, when 
the unbelieving prohpets of Baal heard Elijah call- 
ing upon God saying, “Hear me, 0 Jehovah, hear 
me, that this people may know that thou, Jehovah, 
art God,” and saw the fire fall from heaven, lick up 
the waters and consume even the stones of the al- 


so 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


tar, they fell on their faces and said, “Jehovah, he 
is God; Jehovah, he is God.” — i Kings 18:37-39. 
Many more like examples could be referred to in 
the Old Testament, but these are sufficient to prove 
that God employed miraculous means under the 
Patriarchal and Levitical priesthoods to convince 
unbelievers that the words spoken by His servants 
were true. By turning to the New Testament w6 
find that the purpose for which miracles were per- 
formed during the first century of the Christian 
era, was the same as that under the Old Testament'. 
When Jesus entered upon His personal ministry, He 
declared Himself to be the only begotten Son of 
God, and said, “no one cometh unto the Father but 
by me.” — (John 3:16; 14:6.) All of the people were 
not ready to believe Him and some, like Philip, said, 
“show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,” while 
others said, “what then doest thou for a sign, that 
we may see, and ‘believe thee ? what workest thou 1 ’ ’ 
— (John 14:8; 6:30.) Jesus, in order to be the Sav- 
iour of the world, had to first convince the people 
that He was the Christ, the Son of God. This He 
did by His miracles, which the following Scriptures 
will abundantly prove: At the marriage in Cana, 
He turned water into wine, and “manifested His 
glory; and His disciples believed on Him.” — John 


81 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


2:11. “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the pass- 
over, during the feast, many believed on his name, 
beholding his signs which he did.” — John 2:23. 
Again, when Lazarus was raised from the dead, 
“Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank 
thee that thou heardest me. And I knew that thou 
hearest me always: but because of the multitude 
that standeth around I said it, that they may believe 
that thou didst send me. And when he had thus 
spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come 
forth. He that was dead came forth, bound hand 
and foot with grave clothes ; and his face was bound 
about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them, Loose 
him, and let him go. Many therefore of the Jews, 
who came to Mary and beheld that which he did, 
believed on him.” — John 11:41-45. John emphati- 
cally declares that the purpose for which Jesus per- 
formed miracles, was that the people might believe 
on Him. Hear his words, “Many other signs there- 
fore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which 
are not written in this book: but these are written, 
that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son 
of God; and that believing ye may have life in his 
name.” — John 20:30-31. Truly did Peter speak 
when he said, “ye men of Israel, hear these words: 
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you 


82 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


by mighty works and wonders and signs which God 
did by him in the midst of you, even as ye your- 
selves know. ” — Acts 2:22. When the people saw 
Jesus calm the seas, heal the sick, open blind eyes, 
and raise the dead, they believed He was the Christ 
and, like Nicodemus, said, “ Rabbi, we know that 
thou art a teacher come from God ; for no one can 
do these signs that thou doest, except God be with 
him.” — John 3:2. 

After the ascension of Christ, the Apostles be- 
gan to preach the gospel and, like their blessed 
Master, employed miraculous gifts in connection 
with their words to convince the people that they 
were sent of God. On the day of Pentecost when 
the multitude saw and heard them speaking in other 
tongues, “they were all amazed and marvelled, say- 
ing, Behold are not all of these that speak Galilae- 
ans? And how hear we, every man in our own lan- 
guage wherein we were born?” — Acts 2:7-8. When 
Peter healed the lame man at the gate of the Tem- 
ple, “all men glorified God for that which was 
done. ” — Acts 4 :21. The raising of Tabitha from the 
dead ‘ ‘ became known throughout all Joppa : and 
many believed on the Lord.” — Acts 9:42. Again, 
Paul smote Elymas with blindness “and the pro- 
consul, when he saw what was done, believed, being 


83 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


astonished at the teaching of the Lord.” — Acts 13: 
12. When the Apostles performed miracles, such 
as healing the sick, casting out devils, and raising 
the dead, the people believed their teaching and, 
like the damsel, said, “ These men are servants of 
The Most High God, who proclaim unto you the 
way of salvation.” — Acts 16:17. Obedient to the 
command of Christ, the Apostles went every where 
preaching His gospel and the Lord, faithful to His 
promise, worked “with them, and confirming the 
word by the signs that followed.” — Mark 16:20. 

(b) Was this miracle working power given to 
the Apostles and those upon whom they conferred 
it, to enable them to remember and teach the truths 
of the gospel and, in many other ways, to take the 
place of the New Testament until it was committed 
to writing near the close of the first century? We 
believe it was. As the New Testament was not writ- 
ten at the time the Apostles began their work on 
Pentecost, and as the Law of Moses — the only law 
they had ever learned — was abolished, it was nec- 
essary that they be endowed with power from on 
high that they might remember and teach the truths 
of the New Covenant. Jesus told them that, for 
this purpose, they would receive the Holy Spirit. 
Hear His words, “The Comforter, even the Holy 

84 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he 
shall teach yon all things, and bring to your re- 
membrance all that I said unto you.” — John 14:26. 
After His resurrection He appeared unto them and 
said, “But ye shall receive power, when the Holy 
Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my wit- 
nesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Sa- 
maria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” 
— Acts 1 :8. On the first Pentecost following the 
resurrection of Christ this promised power came 
“and there appeared unto them tongues parting 
asunder, like as of fire ; and it sat upon each one of 
them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit 
gave them utterance. ’ ’ — Acts 2 :3-4. The Holy Spirit 
came upon the Apostles to bring to their minds the 
things that Jesus had told them and to speak, 
through them, to the people. The words the Apos- 
tles uttered were not theirs, but those of the Spirit. 
Thus the promise, it shall not be “ye that speak, 
but the Holy Spirit,” was fulfilled in its most lit- 
eral sense. Were these the only reasons why God 
gave the Apostles the Holy Spirit? No. The com- 
mission under wTiich the Apostles were laboring was 
world wide in its scope. When they planted a 
church in a certain city, they could not remain long 


85 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


with it, but had to depart to other fields of labor. 
But what became of the church after they left it? 
They had no written guide — the New Testament — 
to leave with it. Would they leave it without any 
means of increasing its knowledge of the Spiritual 
Institution, and with nothing but the fallible mem- 
ories of its members to retain the truths of the gos- 
pel? No. To supply this want, as well as to leave 
with the church the means of convincing unbeliev- 
ers, they chose from the congregation godly men 
and conferred upon them the gift to teach, work 
miracles, and feed the church of God. Paul gives 
us the order in which inspired men were set in the 
church. He says, “And God hath set some in the 
church, first Apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly 
teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, 
governments, divers kinds of tongues.” — i Cor., 
12 :28. It is well to note here that the Apostles did 
not confer the same kind of gifts upon all on whom 
they laid their hands, but there were “diversities 
of gifts.” Paul says, “For to one is given through 
the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the 
word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit . 
to another faith, in the same Spirit ; and to another 
gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another 
workings of miracles ; and to another prophecy ; and 


86 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


to another discernings of spirits; to another divers 
kinds of tongues ; and to another the interpretation 
of tongues.” — i Cor., 12:8-10. The same Apostle 
tells us why these gifts were given to the members 
of the early church. He says, “And he gave some 
to be apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, evan- 
gelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the 
perfecting of the saints, unto the work of minister- 
ing, unto the building up of the body of Christ : till 
we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the 
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full grown 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ.” — Eph., 4:11-13. If we will remember 
that these miraculous manifestations — these begin- 
nings — were necessary to the introduction of the 
gospel, but were to cease when that which is per- 
fect — the New Testament — came, the difficulties sur- 
rounding miracles will immediately disappear. 

3d, When did the special and divine power by 
which miracles were performed, cease? 

Paul says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, 
brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” — i Cor., 
12:1. What kind of gifts are we studying? Spirit* 
ual gifts, and the Apostle says that he would not 
have us ignorant in regard to them. He mentions 
wisdom, knowledge, and faith (extraordinary) and 


87 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning, and inter- 
pretation of tongues as being among the special 
gifts, and says, “But desire earnestly the greater 
gifts. And moreover a most excellent way show I un- 
to you. ” — Verse 31. What could be more excellent 
than swaying multitudes with an inspired tongue? 
What could be more excellent than penetrat- 
ing the future with a prophetic eye and bearing to 
human minds, the secrets that are hid away in the 
recesses of the unborn ages? What could be more 
excellent than the gift to restore the sick to health, 
and the dead to life? But Paul says he will show 
us something more excellent than all of these. Let 
us place our hands in that of the great Apostle, 
and, with open ears and appreciative hearts, go 
with him while he points out to us that which is 
more excellent, more glorious, and more to be de- 
sired than Spiritual gifts. He constrasts love with 
spiritual gifts and says, “Love never faileth: but 
whether there be prophecies, they shall be done 
away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; 
whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. 
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part ; but 
when that which is perfect is come, that which is 
in part shall be done away.” — i Cor., 13:8-10. By 
going slowly here and studying closely the Apos- 


88 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


tie’s words, we can locate the time when miracles 
ceased. In Paul’s day, the Corinthian and all other 
churches, had something which was only in part, 
but were to soon receive “that which is perfect;” 
at which time, that which they possessed that was 
in part, was to cease or be done away. To ascer- 
tain what the churches possessed that was in part, 
what it was they were to soon receive that was per- 
fect, and when it came, will materially assist us in 
approximating the time when miracles were to 
cease. 1st, What did the churches possess that was 
in part? Paul says, “we know in part, and we 
prophesy in part.” The Apostle does not mean to 
teach that knowledge and prophecy constituted all 
they had in part, but refers to them as specimens of 
the whole class of special endowments. Spiritual 
gifts, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, and 
tongues and knowledge, (so far as they were su- 
pernatural gifts of the Spirit) were in part. 2d, 
What were the churches to receive that was per- 
fect ? It was the written word — the New Testament 
Scriptures. The Apostle says, “Every scripture 
inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in 
righteousness: that the man of God may be com- 
plete, furnished completely unto every good work.” 


89 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


— ii Tim., 3:16-17. If the New Testament can so 
thoroughly furnish man as to make him perfect, it 
can be no less than perfect itself. The New Testa- 
ment is perfect. James calls it, 4 ‘the perfect law, 
the law of liberty.” — Jas., 1:25. The study of its 
sacred pages will make us “wise unto salvation.” — 
ii Tim., 3:15; obeying its truths will purify our 
souls — (i Peter 1:22), and a close adherence to its 
commandments will give us an abundant entrance 
into “the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ.” — (ii Peter 1:11.) What else is nec- 
essary to make our “calling and election sure?” 
The New Testament — the written word — is that 
which is perfect and Paul said that when it came, 
then that which was in part — miracles — would be 
done away or cease. Therefore, if we can learn 
when the books of the New Testament were com- 
mitted to writing and delivered to the churches we 
will know w T hen miracles ceased. 3d, When was 
the written word — the New Testament — delivered 
to the churches? About the year A. D. Ninety-six, 
all of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament 
had been written and were in possession of the 
churches. While the books were not, at that time, 
compiled, or bound in one volume, they were care- 
fully preserved, widely circulated, and often read 


90 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


in the churches. The New International Encyclo- 
paedia, Article, “Bible,” says, “The New Testa- 
ment writings in the Apostolic age. — During this 
period the New Testament books came into exist- 
ence. They were, in the majority of cases, produc- 
ed independently, with no special reference to each 
other, by various authors at different times, for the 
use of different communites of individuals. Each 
book began its career alone. The answer to the 
question how they came to be collected, united, and 
constituted the canon or rule for universal Christian 
faith and practice, is to be sought first in certain 
characteristics of the Apostolic age. Christianity 
was not, at first, a book religion. The teachings of 
Jesus were committed to His Apostles, to be re- 
produced and proclaimed and taught by them oral- 
ly, as the gospel. The gospel was authoritative, for 
it was the gospel of God. Therefore, the words of 
the Apostles, as the accredited teachers and ex- 
pounders of the gospel, were accorded the greatest 
weight. What was true of their spoken words was 
also true of what they wrote. Hence, when the gos- 
pel took on a written form, whether in an epistle 
or in a narrative of Jesus’ words and deeds, writ- 
ten by an Apostle or an intimate companion and 
fellow worker with the Apostles, such writing was 


81 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


sure to be carefully preserved, often read, widely 
circulated, and highly honored. It was a natural 
result, untrammeled by any theories whatsoever. 
The evidence for this is abundant throughout the 
New Testament. Upon these two principles the su- 
preme authority of the gospel itself, and the pre- 
eminent right of the Apostles and their intimate as- 
sociates to teach it, the subsequent career of the 
New Testament books depend.” Jamieson, Fausset, 
and Brown, in their introductory remarks to Reve- 
lation, quote Gregory Nyssen as saying, “All of the 
books of the New Testament had been written, and 
read in the church assemblies, some years before 
John’s (the Apostle’s) death.” According to these 
standard authorities, all the books of the New Tes- 
tament were written and were in possession of the 
churches near the close of the first century. There- 
fore, when these books — which constitute that which 
is perfect — came, or were delivered to the churches, 
miracles ceased. Paul’s prediction was fulfilled — 
that which is perfect had come — the church of Christ 
had reached its maturity in point of doctrine and 
organization. Then tongues, knowledge, and proph- 
esying — so far as they were the supernatural gifts 
of the Spirit — ceased. They were superseded by 
the ordinary preaching of the word, and miracles 


92 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


were no longer needed after the Scriptures of the 
New Testament were collected together and deliv- 
ered to the churches. Paul continues his explana- 
tion at this point by saying, '‘when I was a child, I 
spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a 
child: now that I have become a man, I have put 
away childish things.” — i Cor., 13:11. Here the 
Apostle compares a certain period of the church’s 
existence to childhood, and another period to man- 
hood. Why this comparison? Because — before the 
New Testament was written — the church was in its 
childhood state. As a child has not sufficient 
strength of its own, its mother must lead it, 
nurse it, and speak for it; but after the child be- 
comes a man, he does not need the same care and 
nursing which was absolutely indispensable during 
his childhood existence. So it was with the church. 
Before the New Testament was written, it was in 
its childhood state. It had no source from which 
to derive the knowledge and strength essential to 
its moral and Spiritual growth, except from inspir- 
ed men. But when the New Testament was written 
the church was no longer dependent upon inspired 
teachers, but its members could learn from the 
written word, all things essential to the Christian’s 
life, and thus the church passed from its childhood 


93 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


to its manhood state. The great Apostle continues 
his argument on this subject by saying, “Now” — 
before the New Testament was written — before all 
the facts of the New Covenant were revealed — when 
we had but an imperfect knowledge of Spiritual 
things — “we see in a mirror, darkly; but then” — 
after the New Testament has been written and 
when, by reading, we can form an accurate concep- 
tion of our own Spiritual condition — we see “face 
to face : now ’ ’ — before there was any written guide 
— we “know in part; but then” — after the New 
Testament has been written and we can read of 
the great principles which must shape and control 
the Christian’s life and can, in the light thereof, ex- 
amine our own lives — we shall know as we are 
known, (i Cor., 13:12-13.) 

4th, Why did the divine and special power by 
which miracles were performed, cease in the 
church? If we can find something that will accom- 
plish the same purpose for which this power was 
given, we can understand why it ceased. It was 
given to enable the Apostles and those upon whom 
they conferred it, to remember and teach the truths 
of the New Covenant. We don’t need it for that 
purpose now, as we have the New Testament which 
thoroughly furnishes us for all good works, and we 


94 


THE HO L Y SPIRIT 


are commanded to study to show ourselves approv- 
ed unto God, workmen who need not be ashamed, 
rightly dividing the word of truth. — (ii Tim., 2:15.) 
Before the New Testament was written, miracles 
were performed that people might believe. They 
are not necessary for that purpose now, for John 
says, “many other signs therefore did Jesus in the 
presence of the disciples, which are not written in 
this book: but these are written, that ye may be- 
lieve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and 
that believing ye may have life in His name.” — 
John 20:30-31. Inspired men were set in the early 
church, “for the perfecting of the saints.’ ’ — Eph., 
4:12. They are not needed for that purpose now, 
for the New Testament Scriptures were given that 
“the man of God may be complete.” — ii Tim., 3:17. 
Miracles served a temporary purpose until the facts, 
commandments, and promises of the gospel were 
committed to writing by the hands of inspired men, 
at which time prophecies, tongues, healing, miracu- 
lous knowledge — that which was in part — gave way 
to the written word — the New Testament — that 
which is perfect. 


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THE SIN AGAINST THE 

HOLY SPIRIT 


r 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


And whosoever shall speak a word against the 
Son of man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever 
shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be 
forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that 
which is to come. — Matthew 12:32. 


93 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER IV. 


THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

As a Bible basis for this division of our sub- 
ject, we quote the following from Matthew’s gospel: 

“Then was brought unto him one possessed 
with a demon, blind and dumb : and he healed him, 
in so much that the dumb man spake and saw. And 
all the multitudes were amazed, and said, Can this 
be the son of David ? But when the Pharisees heard 
it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, 
but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons. And 
knowing their thoughts he said unto them, Every 
kingdom divided against itself is brought to deso- 
lation; and every city or house divided against it- 
self shall not stand : and if Satan casteth out Satan, 
he is divided against himself; how then shall his 
kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out 
demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? 
Therefore shall they be your judges. But if I by 
the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the king- 
dom of God come upon you. Or how can one enter 


99 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, 
except he first bind the strong man? and then he 
will spoil his house. He that is not with me is 
against me; and he that gathereth not with me 
scattereth. Therefore I say unto you, Every sin 
and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the 
blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 
And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son 
of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever 
shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be 
forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that 
which is to come.” — Katt., 12:22-32. 

We doubt if there is a passage of Scripture, 
either in the Old or New Testament, that is, in the 
minds of some Bible readers, surrounded with as 
much mystery and regarded with as much fear as 
are the ten verses just quoted. This, like many 
other New Testament passages, has its theorists, who, 
by their wrong interpretation of this, our Lord’s 
language, have not only burdened the world with 
false theories, but have so confused the minds of 
thousands of honest men and women as, while 
blinded and bewildered by these erroneous ideas 
of God’s Law, to render them unable to arrive at 
the truth of the text. One of these theories teaches 
that the sin against the Holy Spirit is a mystery 


100 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


and that, while all men are in constant danger of 
committing it, they are wholly incompetent to com- 
prehend its true nature, or even understand how. 
where, or when they transgress this hidden and 
secret Law of God. We will not take the reader’s 
time just here to discuss or show the unscriptural- 
ness of this absurd and preposterous teaching, far- 
ther than to say that it is not compatible with the 
goodness and mercy of our heavenly Father to give 
us a law, the nature and conditions of which it is 
impossible for us to know, and condemn our souls 
forever if we fail to keep it. Another theory 
teaches that the sin against the Holy Spirit is some 
particular sin or overt act. The advocates of this 
theory, while they disagree among themselves as to 
just what constitutes this unpardonable sin, yet, each 
one is free to tell what, in his opinion, the one act 
of disobedience to the Law of God, to the exclusion 
of all others, is the sin against the Holy Spirit. One 
will tell us that this sin is nothing more nor less 
than “quenching the Spirit.” But we may ask 
the advocates of this theory what is meant by 
“quenching the Spirit,” and they will tell us that 
it is one of the “secret things;” and that, since the 
sinner is totally depraved and is, in every respect, 
passive — can not act of himself, but that his every 


101 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


thought and movement in his coming to God are 
the works of the Holy Spirit — and that he, like a 
piece of machinery that is driven by some irresist- 
ible and unerring power, can move only in the 
direction and to the end that the Holy Spirit takes 
him — can not commit the sin for the reason that 
where there is no ability there can be no account- 
ability; and, as the Christian is “once in grace, 
always in grace,” it is impossible for him 
to commit it, and therefore they conclude by 
saying that, “while all men are in danger 
of committing the sin against the Holy Spirit, yet 
the real and true nature of the sin is absolutely in- 
comprehensible to the finite mind.” Surely such 
doctrine can not be very “wholesome and very full 
of comfort.” Another theory teaches that the sin 
against the Holy Spirit is the “act of falling away 
after being once enlightened;” and still a third one 
claims that it is the sin of “attributing the power 
of God to that of Satan.” Those who claim that 
the sin against the Holy Spirit, or the unpardonable 
sin, is some particular sin or overt act, are con- 
fronted by a difficulty which is not easily explained 
away. We would ask them why it is, if the sin 
against the Holy Spirit is some specific sin, that, 
when the same sin is committed against the Father 


102 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


and Son it is pardonable but when committed 
against the Holy Spirit it will not be forgiven in 
this world or in the world to come? Is the Holy 
Spirit superior to God and Christ? Does He love 
us more than the Father and intercede for us more 
earnestly than the Son? If not, who, in the light 
of the foregoing theories, can tell why a word 
spoken or a sin committed against the Holy Spirit 
is any less pardonable than when against the Father 
or Son? Still another theory says that the Phari- 
sees sinned against the Holy Spirit when they ac- 
cused Jesus of casting out devils by the power of 
Beelzebub, the prince of demons. The falsity of 
this position is apparent for two reasons: First, At 
the time Jesus used this language, “the Holy Spirit 
was not yet given,” — (John 7 :39) ; and, Second, The 
Pharisees sinned against Jesus and not against the 
Holy Spirit. They did not only accuse Him of be- 
ing possessed and influenced by a devil, but charg- 
ed Him with being allied with Satan in the ruinous 
work of spreading sin and moral degradation among 
the children of men. Hence, they sinned against 
Jesus and not against the Holy Spirit. 

That the New Testament teaches us that there 
is an unpardonable, or sin against the Holy Spirit, 
no one who is familiar with its pages will deny. 


103 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


John says, “If any man see his brother sinning a 
sin not unto death, he shall ask, and God will give 
him life for them that sin not unto death. There 
is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say 
that he should make request.” — i John 5:16. If, 
as some people would have us believe, there is no 
way of telling what the unpardonable sin is, how 
can we tell whether our brother is committing the 
“sin unto death,” or one that is pardonable? If 
we can know nothing about the nature of this sin, 
are we not liable to blunder by often praying for 
the forgiveness of the “sin unto death,” thinking 
it will be pardoned, and failing to pray for abso- 
lution from another that is pardonable, thinking it 
is the sin “unto death?” 

In order to make as clear and intelligible a pre- 
sentation of this subject as possible, we will ask 
and endeavor to give Bible answers to the follow- 
ing questions: 

1st, What is the sin against the Holy Spirit? 
2d, How can we avoid committing this unpardon- 
able sin? 

1st, What is the sin against the Holy Spirit? 

While perusing the Bible in our endeavor to 
find a Scriptural answer to this question, it will be 
to our advantage if we will remember just here that 


104 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


the sin against the Holy Spirit, whatever it is, is 
peculiar to the New Testament age. There is no 
such a sin mentioned in the Old Testament. True, 
there was an unpardonable sin under the Jewish 
dispensation, but it was not against the Holy Spirit ; 
and, unlike some self-styled Bible teachers would 
have us believe is true in regard to the sin against 
the Holy Spirit, its nature was clearly stated and 
plainly out-lined, and no Jew ever committed it ig- 
norantly. We ask then, what is the sin against the 
Holy Spirit? A knowledge of the peculiar or sing- 
ular nature of this sin is the only means of its iden- 
tification. This being true then we ask, why was 
the sin, when committed against the Father and 
Son during the time that Christ was on earth and 
even during the centuries preceding it, pardon- 
able ; and the same sin, when committed against the 
Holy Spirit in this age, is not pardonable, neither in 
this world nor the world to come? In order to an- 
swer this question it will be necessary that we re- 
fresh our minds on some of the facts that we have 
already studied. As has been stated in another part 
of this work, the world, in point of time, has been 
divided into three periods or dispensations. To suit 
our convenience just here, we will designate the 
first period as the dispensation of the Father; the 


105 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


second, that of the Son; and the third, that of the 
Holy Spirit. The dispensation of the Father lasted 
from the creation of all things to the introduction 
of Christ to the world at His baptism; the dispen- 
sation of the Son lasted from His introduction to 
the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost; and 
the dispensation of the Holy Spirit had its begin- 
ning on Pentecost and will continue as long as time 
shall last. During the first dispensation, which cov- 
ered a period of a little more than four thousand 
years, the Jews, God’s chosen people, knew of no 
divine person, except the Father. While the Son 
and Holy Spirit have always been co-workers with 
the Father, both in creation and redemption, they 
were not known to the world as persons during the 
first dispensation. Hence, as it was impossible, or, 
to say the least of it, not compatible with the good- 
ness and mercy of God to hold the Jews responsible 
for committing a sin against a person about whom 
they knew nothing, and as the Holy Spirit, as a per- 
son, had never been revealed to them, it is easy to 
understand why the Old Testament says nothing 
about the sin against the Holy Spirit. During the 
first dispensation, God was the only divine person 
known to the world. The Jews looked to Him as 
their Law-Giver, King, and only object of worship; 


106 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


and, while they sinned against the Father during 
His personal reign, their sins were pardonable. God 
forgave them as often as they would turn from their 
sins and keep His commandments. At the begin- 
ning of the second dispensation, or when Christ was 
introduced to the world at His baptism, God’s direct 
or personal reign ended, but He “was in Christ 
reconciling the world unto himself,” and no man 
could go to the Father, except by His Son. But 
one may ask, “How about those who sinned against 
God and refused to repent under His personal reign 
or ministry; were their sins pardonable?” The 
answer to this question is the key that must unlock 
and open to our understanding the true nature of 
the sin against the Holy Spirit. At the time God’s 
direct or personal reign ended, there were, no 
doubt, thousands of disobedient Jews, and it was 
impossible for them to have been saved under the 
direct reign of the Father, because it was ended; 
but, notwithstanding they had rebelled against 
God, denied His word, and rejected His plan of 
saving them, they had a chance to repent and be 
saved when the Son came. Jesus pardoned their 
sins when they turned to Him. “The Son of man 
hath power on earth to forgive sins.” When the 
Jews who had lived and rebelled against God under 


107 


THE HOLY' SPIRIT 


the first dispensation, heard Jesus preaching to 
the great crowds of people that were attracted to 
Him by His wonderful words and miracles, many 
of them signified their intention of becoming His 
disciples without making restitution for the wrongs 
committed under the former dispensation, but Jesus 
told them to “repent toward God and believe the 
gospel.” He placed repentance before faith be- 
cause they had been under the reign of the Father 
until Jesus entered upon His personal ministry and, 
as they had believed in and rebelled against God, 
they had to repent of their former sins before they 
could receive any blessings offered by the Son. The 
same thing was true with regard to Christ’s per- 
sonal ministry. His dispensation lasted about three 
and one-half years, during which time He healed 
the sick, forgave sinners, and taught the great 
truths pertaining to His future Kingdom. But one 
may ask, “Did God offer to pardon the sins of the 
men who accused Jesus of being allied with Satan, 
and those who put Him to death?” He did. Jesus 
said, “and whosoever shall speak a word against 
the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him.” While 
in His death agony on the cross, Jesus prayed to 
His Father to forgive those who pierced His side 
and sent the crude nails crashing through His feet 


108 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


which never pressed the path of sin. and pinned 
to a cross of shame His sinless hands, which never 
knew any mission but that of love. 0, the fathom- 
less depths of His wonderful love! He laid down 
His life for His enemies. We should strive to he 
like Him. One may ask, “When was pardon offer- 
ed to those who crucified Christ?” Not under His 
personal ministry, it ended when Jesus died on the 
cross. So far as the dispensation of the Son was 
concerned, the enemies of Christ had sinned away 
their day of grace. But they had another chance 
to be saved. Do you ask when? Under the third 
dispensation, when the Holy Spirit came on the 
Pentecost following Christ’s resurrection and, con- 
ditioned upon obedience to the gospel, offered sal- 
vation to those who had, “taken, and by wicked 
hands had crucified and slain the Lord of glory.” 
Now we ask, Why was the sin against the Father 
pardonable? Because, if the people rejected Him 
and His plan of saving them under the first dispen- 
sation, they had a chance to be saved when the Son 
came. Why was the sin against the Son pardon- 
able? Because the people who rejected Him and 
His plan of saving them during His personal min- 
istry, had another chance to be saved when the 
Holy Spirit came with the conditions of the gospel. 


109 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Why is the sin against the Holy Spirit not pardon- 
able? Because this, the Holy Spirit’s dispensation, 
is the last one. There is no other God, no other 
Christ, no other Holy Spirit, or gospel to be offered 
to man — this is the last chance — the last appeal 
that God will make to man. If he refuses to hear 
the Holy’s Spirit’s testimony, and rejects the con- 
ditions of salvation which God, through the Holy 
Spirit, has offered to the world, and persists in so 
doing, some time the last opportunity will pass, the 
sin will be consummated, and he will be lost for- 
ever. 

The great truths relative to the sin against the 
Holy Spirit may be more clearly brought out by 
the following illustration : An implement firm, 
consisting of a father and two sons, sells a wagon 
to a certain man and takes a mortgage on his team 
to secure payment. The note comes due, but the 
ungrateful purchaser disregards his obligation by 
refusing to make prompt settlement. The members 
of the firm, desiring to be as easy on their debtor 
as possible, agree to give him three opportunities 
or chances to make his payment. Accordingly, the 
father goes to him with a proposition which is ut- 
terly disregarded by the purchaser, but they do not 
close him out, as they have agreed among them- 


110 


THE HO LY SPIRIT 


selves to give him two more chances. The older 
son goes to him with another proposition, but it 
meets with the same disregard and contempt as did 
that of his father. Still they do not close the mort- 
gage, but the son warns the purchaser that, while 
the rejection of the courtesies offered by his father 
and himself would be no longer remembered, his 
brother, the third member of the firm, would come 
with another proposition, which would be the last 
one they would make him and, if he refused to ac- 
cept and comply with the conditions stipulated in 
it, the mortgage would be immediately closed that 
settlement might be promptly secured. So it is 
with regard to the sin against the Holy Spirit. In 
order that we may see clearly the application, let 
the members of the firm represent the Father, Son 
and Holy Spirit, and the ungrateful purchaser rep- 
resent the human family since the creation of Adam. 
(God’s Laws were made for the whole human fam- 
ily, and not for just one individual.) Man is and 
always has been debtor to God. In order that he 
might make restitution for the wrongs committed 
against his Maker, God, through Moses and the 
prophets, came and for four thousand years pleaded 
with man, but He was denied and His word disre- 
garded. Notwithstanding man rejected God, He 


111 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


did not cast him off, but sent His Son with another 
proposition — means of salvation. But ungrateful 
and sinful man crucified the Son of God and, with 
unholy feet, walked upon His sacred Law. Still 
God's mercy is extended to man — He does not cast 
him off, but the Son tells him that, while he had 
rejected and sinned against His Father and Him- 
self, such sins would be forgiven, but warned man 
by telling him that the Holy Spirit would come 
with another law which would be the last appeal 
God would make to him and, if he refused to ac- 
cept and comply with the conditions of it, he would 
be lost forever, because God had no other law or 
gospel to offer him. Suppose, when man rejected 
the Father, He should have decided to not send His 
Son, or when he rejected the Son, He should have 
decided to not send the Holy Spirit, man would 
have been forever doomed. 

What then, is the sin against the Holy Spirit? 
The same as was the sin against the Father and 
Son. How did man sin against God under the first 
dispensation? He rejected Him by refusing to ac- 
cept and obey His word. How did he sin against 
the Son? By rejecting Him and His teaching. 
What is the sin against the Holy Spirit? The act 
of rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit. How 


112 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


is that done? The first Pentecost following the 
resurrection of Christ, was the day on which the 
third or Holy Spirit’s dispensation began on earth. 
On that day the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles 
to inspire them to both speak and write the truths 
of the New Covenant. We can not hear the words 
of the Holy Spirit today speaking through men as 
did the people on the day of Pentecost, and various 
other occasions during the first century, but we 
have the New Testament which, while written by 
the Apostles, was dictated to them by the Holy 
Spirit. Therefore, the New Testament is the med- 
ium through which the Holy Spirit speaks to us 
today. On its sacred pages are written the words 
and thoughts of the Holy Spirit. By believing what 
it says, we believe what the Holy Spirit says, by re- 
ceiving what it says, we receive what the Holy 
Spirit says, and by rejecting what it says, we re- 
ject what the Holy Spirit says. In short, to believe 
and obey what the New Testament teaches, is to 
believe and obey what the Holy Spirit teaches, and 
to reject the New Testament by refusing to believe 
what it teaches and obey what it commands, is to 
reject the Holy Spirit. Through the New Testa- 
ment, the Holy Spirit tells us that there is a God 
who is an all wise and loving Father, a Christ who 


113 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


loved us in so much that He died for us, a heaven 
prepared for the righteous, and a hell for the wick- 
ed. But he who says there is no God, no Christ, no 
heaven, or no hell, makes the Holy Spirit out a liar ; 
and therefore, rejects Him. To thus reject the Holy 
Spirit, is to reject God and Christ, for they, through 
the Holy Spirit as the active agent, are engaged in 
the work of saving sinners and edifying the saints. 
One says, “I have always believed that infidelity 
is the sin against the Holy Spirit, but I am in no 
danger of committing it, because I am not an infi- 
del.” Yes, infidelity will damn the soul, but how 
about the man who believes all the New Testament 
teaches, but refuses to obey it? Is it any worse to 
refuse to believe than it is to refuse to obey what 
the Holy Spirit says? Can a son honor his father 
by believing what he says and refusing to do what 
he commands? Through the New Testament, the 
Holy Spirit says, “and to you that are afflicted 
rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus 
from heaven with the angels of his power in flam- 
ing fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not 
God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our 
Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even 
eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and 
from the glory of his might.” — ii Thes., 1:7-9. In 


114 


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this passage of Scripture the Holy Spirit emphati- 
cally declares that men and women who refuse to 
obey the gospel of Christ will be punished with 
everlasting destruction from the presence of the 
Lord. Believing alone will not save them, but they 
must purify their souls in their “obedience to the 
truth. ’ ’ — (i Peter 1:22.) “But,” says one, “if 
your position be true, there is no use for me to obey 
the gospel now, because I have already sinned 
against the Holy Spirit.” We ask, How and when 
did that happen? “I,” he continues, “attended 
church last Lord’s day and heard a splendid ser- 
mon, at the close of which the minister made a 
strong appeal to sinners to accept Christ. I knew 
the man was preaching the truth and realized the 
fact that I was a sinner, and should have obeyed 
the gospel, but I refused to accept Christ and re- 
jected the teaching and commandments given by 
the Holy Spirit; and therefore, according to your 
position, I sinned against the Holy Spirit.” Sup- 
pose our objector’s position were true? Suppose 
that because he refused to accept the gospel the 
first time it ever made an impression on him, God 
would have never given him another chance to 
obey Him, although he might live and enjoy good 
health for a number of years? As a result of their 


115 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


having been influenced by false teachers, some men 
and women are laboring under the impression that 
the Holy Spirit comes on certain occasions, most 
generally when there is a protracted meeting in 
progress, pleads with sinners for a little while and 
then goes away as if offended. Such is not the case. 
We are living under the Holy Spirit’s reign — this 
is His administration — through His appointed med- 
ium, He is always pleading with sinners to become 
obedient to the gospel. This thought might be il- 
lustrated by referring to the dispensation of the 
Father and Son. Under the first dispensation man 
sinned against God, but as long as the opportunity 
lasted to return and be accepted by Him, he could 
have been pardoned by the Father under His per- 
sonal or direct reign. But by waiting until the 
opportunity, by reason of the ending of the first 
or Father’s direct reign, was passed, his sins, so 
far as that particular reign was concerned, were 
unpardonable. During Christ’s personal ministry, 
man sinned against Him, but his sins were pardon- 
able under that dispensation until it ended, but af- 
ter that time, so far as Christ’s personal ministry 
was concerned, they were unpardonable. So it is 
with sinning against the Holy Spirit. We may have 
rejected the Christ yesterday, and have an oppor- 


116 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


trinity to obey Him today. The sin against the Holy 
Spirit is never completed until the last chance to 
render acceptable obedience to the gospel is pass- 
ed. We have no way of telling when that time 
will come. All we know is that, “today is the day 
of salvation and now is the accepted time.” 

2d, How may we avoid committing the sin 
against the Holy Spirit? 

By doing God’s will. If we would avoid com- 
mitting the sin against the Holy Spirit, let us study 
God’s Word, believe all it teaches, do all it com- 
mands, and God will give us a crown of eternal 
life. 


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. 

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* • 





















THE OPERATION OF THE 
HOLY SPIRIT IN THE 
CONVERSION 
OF THE SINNER 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


For seeing that in the wisdom of God the 
world through its wisdom knew not God, it was 
God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the 
preaching to save them that believe — i Corinthians 
1 : 21 . 


120 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER Y. 


THE OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN 
THE CONVERSION OF THE SINNER. 

That the Holy Spirit has an agency in the con- 
version of every sinner, no one who has any 
acquaintance with the Bible teaching on the sub- 
ject will deny. But the question in which we are 
most interested, and which confronts us just here, 
is not, “Does He operate on the sinner’s heart?” 
but rather, “How does He do His work in conver- 
sion?” “How does He wield an influence over the 
minds of the unsaved?” Does He, in some myster- 
ious way, as some preachers tell us, fall upon the 
alien’s heart like the rain upon the earth, or the 
sun’s rays upon the rose bud — without any medium 
whatever? In the minds of the professed follow- 
ers of Christ are two theories treating upon this 
question, the advocates of which claim to be able 
to tell just how the Holy Spirit makes Christians 
out of sinners. These theories are, in point of teach- 
ing, conflicting and directly opposed to each other. 


121 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


For centuries the strongest adherents of these doc- 
trines have met upon many battlefields, and, strewn 
along the pathway of time, are to he seen old so- 
called theological swords (false doctrines), broken 
and rust covered, which were inadequate to ward 
off the blows of their opposers and, like the hands 
that wielded them, are now stilled. But, while 
many of the champions of each cause have dropped 
out of the ranks, the conflict is not over. New wea- 
pons have been forged, other recruits have arrived, 
and the battle still rages — no decided victory has 
been won, but, kneeling at the shrine of each theory 
are to be seen thousands of worshippers of equal 
honesty and intelligence. 

One of these theories teaches that, in conver- 
sion, the Holy Spirit operates directly and without 
any medium upon the sinner’s heart. This theory 
is the foundation upon which a great many un- 
scriptural and useless institutions have been built 
and is the very heart and life out of which so many 
false doctrines have grown. Mormonism, with its 
crime and shame stained history, is a legitimate 
child of this theory. Without it Mormonism would 
have never been born. It was a supposed direct 
impression from God upon the mind of Joe Smith 
that gave birth to the Mormon church. It was a 


122 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


supposed direct impression of the Holy Spirit upon 
the Pope of Rome that, in the minds of some peo- 
ple, makes him infallible and lifts him above his 
fellowman. It was a supposed direct impression 
made by the Holy Spirit upon the mind of Chas 
Guiteau that robed him in a fiendish garb and, in 
the name of a religion which knows no hate, caus- 
ed him to take the life of James A. Garfield. You 
may object to this by saying, “I believe in the ab- 
stract, independent, and mysterious operation of 
the Holy Spirit in the conversion of the sinner, but 
I think these men whom you have mentioned were 
mistaken. They were not guided by the Holy 
Spirit.” If they were mistaken, is there not a pos- 
sibility of you being mistaken also? If you take 
the supposed direct impression of the Holy Spirit 
upon your heart as the means and evidence of par- 
don, you are, at least as far as evidence goes, on a 
par with the Pope of Rome, Joe Smith, and Chas. 
Guiteau. While the ultimate end to which you 
think your faith will lead you may differ from theirs 
as wide as the sea, yet the evidence upon which you 
predicate your belief is the same as that which 
gives credence and w T eight to their claims, espec- 
ially among those who conform to their way of 
thinking. They imagined they felt some strange 


123 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


influence come over them. So did you. They sup- 
posed it was the influence of the Holy Spirit. So 
did you. To them there were no words spoken or 
intelligible signs made. Neither were there any 
words spoken or signs mafle to you. The Pope sup- 
posed it meant one thing, Joe Smith another, and 
Chas. Guiteau still another, while you interpret the 
same kind of an impression as they had and re- 
ceived in just the. same way that they received 
theirs, to mean that your sins are pardoned. Can 
you give one reason why thinking men and women 
should reject their claims and accept yours? 

We pause here long enough to give four rea- 
sons why we think the theory of the abstract, inde- 
pendent, and mysterious operation of the Holy 
Spirit upon the sinner’s heart is not correct. 

1st, The theory is not in keeping with the con- 
stitution of the mind of man, or in harmony with 
the Divine plan. God created man an intelligent 
being and gave him an intelligible language. Prom 
the very beginning of the history of man, words, 
either spoken or written, have constituted the med- 
ium through which intelligence has been and is 
conveyed from the mind of the infinite to that of 
the finite. When God wished to convey some in- 
telligence to Adam and Eve, He employed words, 


124 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


and not some unintelligible impression or influence. 
He said to them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and 
replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have do- 
minion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds 
of the heavens, and over every living thing that 
moveth upon the earth.” — Gen., 1:28. When He 
wanted Noah to build the ark He spoke to him in 
words addressed and adapted to his understanding. 
Words, either written or spoken, have always con- 
stituted the medium through which God has con- 
veyed information to His creatures. Before the Bi- 
ble was reduced to writing, the words were spoken ; 
sometimes by the Father and the Son, while at 
other times by angels or some man whom the Holy 
Spirit inspired for that purpose. Peter says, “no 
prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men 
spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit.” 
— ii Peter 1 :21. But inspiration ceased with the 
completion of the New Testament and today we 
have the written word which, when faithfully read, 
will “make us wise unto salvation,” and when 
obeyed from the heart, will make us “free from 
sin.” Faith is the first essential to man’s salvation. 
This comes, not by mere feeling or, as some would 
have us believe, by the abstract and independent 
operation of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, but by 


125 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


hearing. “So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing 
by the word of Christ. ” — Rom., 10:17. John says, 
“He that hath an ear, let him hear (not feel) what 
the Spirit saith to the churches.’ ’ — Rev. 3:22. A 
dumb unintelligible impression made upon the heart 
can not convey intelligence. The constitution of the 
mind of man is such that it can not receive informa- 
tion from the infinite mind, except through intellig- 
ible words or signs. The theory of the abstract, in- 
dependent, and mysterious operation of the Holy 
Spirit upon the sinner’s heait has neither. 

2d, This theory can not be right because where 
the Bible has never been read or preached, there is 
no knowledge of God. If the Holy Spirit operates 
independent of the written or spoken Word, why 
are there not thousands of well informed Christian 
men and women in countries where the Bible has 
never been introduced? Such places would consti- 
tute splendid fields for the Holy Spirit to work. 
The doctrine of a dumb unintelligible impression 
made on the heart, did not have its origin among 
Christianized people, but among the heathen — those 
who had only a tradition or superstitution. It was a 
supposed direct impression or operation of God that 
caused loving mothers to cast their children into 
the arms of a burning idol, or throw them into the 


126 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Ganges to be devoured by the crocodiles, hoping 
thereby to appease the wrath of their god. Surely, 
if there is any truth in such a doctrine, instead of 
encouraging such a heathenish and inhumane prac- 
tice, it would stay the hand of those innocent moth- 
ers and lift the thousands of poor misinformed wor- 
shippers from an idol’s shrine. But there is no 
truth in the theory. The way of God is plain — so 
plain that the wayfaring men, though they be sim- 
pletons, need not err therein. Paul says the gospel 
of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to ev- 
ery one who believes. Jesus says, “It is written in 
the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God. 
Every one that hath heard from the Father and 
hath learned, cometh unto me.’’ — John 6:45. Words, 
either written or spoken, constitute the medium 
through which the Holy Spirit operates. Where 
the gospel is faithfully preached, darkness gives 
way to light, sin to righteousness, God is honored 
and sinners saved. 

3d, The zealous advocates of the theories of 
the abstract, independent, and mysterious operation 
of the Holy Spirit in conversion, and the miraculous 
call to the ministry, are not in possession of any in- 
formation, save that which they have learned from 
the reading of the Bible. What do they know about 


127 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the life to come, 
that the ordinary reader can not learn by a faith- 
ful perusal of the Old and New Testaments? Noth- 
ing. Not one of them knows more, while the ma- 
jority of them know much less about the Bible and 
the Christian life than the careful and prayerful Bi- 
ble reader. Hence, our third reason for believing 
the theory is wrong. 

4th, We believe the theory of the abstract, in- 
dependent, and mysterious operation of the Holy 
Spirit upon the sinner’s heart is wrong, because the 
Bible nowhere teaches it. 

In opposition to the theory stated, and as a 
proposition embodying the Bible teaching on the 
subject, we affirm that, in conversion, the Holy 
Spirit puts forth His convincing and converting 
power upon the sinner’s heart, only through some 
medium. The Holy Spirit has always strove with 
men. In the days of Noah, God said, “My Spirit 
shall not strive with man forever, for that he also 
is flesh : yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty 
years. ’’ — Gen., 6:3. How did His Spirit strive with 
man? Let the Bible tell us. “Yet many years didst 
thou bear with them, and testifieth against them by 
thy Spirit through thy prophets.” — Neh., 9:30. Paul 
says, “Well spake the Holy Spirit through Isaiah 


128 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


the prophet unto your fathers.’ * — Acts 28:25. Again, 
Peter says, “no prophecy ever came by the will of 
man : but men spake from God, being moved by the 
Holy Spirit.” — ii Peter 1:21. From these Scrip- 
tures we learn that the prophets were the mediums 
through which the Holy Spirit operated upon the 
hearts of sinners during the Old Testament times 
and that words were the means employed. 

But we are not so much interested in knowing 
how the Holy Spirit operated on the unsaved under 
the Old Testament as we are under the New. There- 
fore, the question in which we are most concerned 
just now is, “How does the Holy Spirit operate up- 
on the sinner’s heart in his conversion to God un- 
der the present or Christian dispensation?” In this, 
we should be willing to be governed by what the 
Word of God says, as it is the only source from which 
we can gain any light upon the subject. By turn- 
ing to the Bible, we learn that, since the first Pente- 
cost following the resurrection of Christ, the Holy 
Spirit has put forth His convincing and converting 
power upon the hearts of sinners in the following 
ways : 

1st, From the beginning of the gospel reign on 
Pentecost, until near the close of the first century 
of the Christian era, the Holy Spirit operated on 


129 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


the unsaved by speaking to them through inspired 
men. While God, as is recorded in Acts 8:26, and 
10:3-6, some times used angels to bring the sinner 
and inspired teacher together, He never pardoned 
one man without the agency of another, or did the 
Holy Spirit ever tell a sinner what to do to be saved, 
except through some man. A voice from heaven 
spoke to Saul, but it was left for Ananias to tell 
him what he had to do. (Acts 9:1-17.) An angel 
was the first to speak to Cornelius, but it was nec- 
essary that he send to Joppa for Peter, that he 
might tell him words whereby he and his house 
could be saved. • (Acts 10:1-9; 11:1-18.) We sup- 
pose that God could have told Saul and Cornelius 
just what Ananias and Peter told them, but He had 
committed unto men the ministry of reconciliation, 
(ii Cor., 5:19) and, in no instance, did God ever 
wrest the keys of the Kingdom from the hands of 
His faithful servants, or deviate from His plan of 
saving man through the “ foolishness of preach- 
ing.” (Matt., 16:19; John 20:22-23; ii Tim., 2-2.) 
On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit operated 
upon the multitudes assembled at Jerusalem and 
three thousand souls were saved. How did He 
operate on them? By speaking through Peter and 
the other Apostles, and not directly to the sinners. 


130 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


“And there appeared unto them tongues parting 
asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of 
them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, 
and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit 
gave them utterance.’ ’ — Acts 2:3-4. Thus was ful- 
filled Christ’s promise to them, “for it is not ye that 
speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh 
in you.” — Matt., 10:20. By studying some of the 
cases of conversions recorded in the book of Acts, 
we can more easily understand just how the Holy 
Spirit operated upon the hearts of the unsaved dur- 
ing the first seventy years of the church’s existence. 
We will now examine the case of the Ethiopian 
eunuch. To bring about his conversion God used 
an angel, the Holy Spirit, the evangelist Philip, and 
the gospel of His Son. What did each of them do? 
Let the Bible tell us. “But an angel of the Lord 
spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the 
south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem 
unto Gaza: the same is desert.” — Acts 8:26. Here 
the mission of the angel ceased — his was to direct 
the evangelist to the sinner — he spoke to Philip, but 
said not a word to the eunuch. “And he arose and 
went: and behold, a man of Ethiopa, a eunuch of 
great authority under Candace, queen of the Eth- 
iopians, who was over all her treasure, who had 


131 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


come to Jerusalem to worship; and he was return- 
ing and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the 
prophet Isaiah.” — Verses 27-28. 4 ‘And the Spirit 

said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this 
chariot.” — Verse 29. Notice that the Holy Spirit, 
like the angel, spoke to Philip, not to the eunuch. 
“And Philip ran to him, and heard him reading 
Isaiah the prophet, and said, Understandest thou 
what thou readest? And he said, How can I, ex- 
cept some one shall guide me? And he besought 
Philip to come up and sit with him.” — Verses 30-31. 
How was the eunuch taught? “And Philip opened 
his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture, 
preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on the 
way, they came unto a certain water; and the 
eunuch said, Behold, here is water; what doth hin- 
der me to be baptized? And he commanded the 
chariot to stand still : and they both went down in- 
to the water, both Philip and the eunuch ; and he 
baptized him. And when they came up out of the 
water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip; 
and the eunuch saw him no more, for he went on 
his way rejoicing.” — Verses 35-39. Prom these 
Scriptures we learn that, in order to bring about 
this conversion, the angel, Holy Spirit, Philip, and 
the eunuch all did something. What did they do, 


132 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


and why did they do it? 1st, The angel and Holy 
Spirit did not speak to the sinner, as some people 
claim they do now, but they spoke to Philip, in or- 
der that the preacher and sinner might be brought 
together. Here the mission of both, the angel and 
the Holy Spirit, so far as any extra or special work 
in this particular case of conversion was concerned, 
ceased. The Holy Spirit spoke to the eunuch, but 
only through Philip. 2d, Philip taught the eunuch 
in order that he might learn what to do to be saved. 
And 3d, The eunuch made himself free from sin and 
became a servant of righteousness by obeying “from 
the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered” 
to him through Philip’s preaching. One may ask, 
“How did the Holy Spirit operate upon the eunuch’s 
heart?” We answer this question by saying that 
the Holy Spirit operated upon the eunuch’s heart 
through the words of Philip; and, in proof of this 
assertion we quote again the thirty-fifth verse which 
says, “And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning 
from this scripture, preached unto him Jesus.” 

The next case of conversion to which we call 
attention, is that of Lydia. It reads as follows: 
“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of 
purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped 
God, heard us : whose heart the Lord opened to give 


133. 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


heed unto the things which were spoken by Paul. 
And when she was baptized, and her household, she 
besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be 
faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide 
there. And she constrained us.” — Acts 16:14:15. 
Touching upon this case of conversion, are two 
questions which claim our attention. The first one 
is, “How did God open Lydia’s heart? Did He do 
this by the direct influence of the Holy Spirit?” No. 
She was neither totally depraved or unwilling to 
hear, but on the other hand she was a devout be- 
liever in God and, while away from home on a bus- 
iness trip, attended a river side prayer meeting in 
the hope, doubtless, of being edified and taught the 
more perfect way of the God in whom she already 
believed. While attending this meeting, she heard 
Paul preach the gospel of Christ in its fullness, by 
which God opened her heart, enlightened her mind, 
and she was converted. But the influence of the 
Holy Spirit upon her heart did not begin until 
Paul ’s preaching saluted her ears. The second ques- 
tion bearing upon this case of conversion is, “How 
did the Holy Spirit operate upon Lydia’s heart?” 
The Bible says, she “gave heed unto the things 
which were spoken of Paul.” Paul was inspired by 
the Holy Spirit and taught not “in words which 


134 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit 
teacheth. ” — i Cor., 2:13. The Holy Spirit, using* 
Paul as His medium through which to speak to 
Lydia, put forth His convincing and converting 
power upon her heart. 

2d, Since the first Pentecost following the 
resurrection of Christ, the Holy Spirit has operated 
upon the hearts of the unsaved through the practi- 
cal exhibition of the Christian religion in the lives 
of the disciples of Christ. In this manner of His 
operating upon the sinner’s heart, He does not im- 
part any . information or teaching except by 
example. The Christian’s life is a life of 
power for righteousness. Jesus said to His 
disciples, “Ye are the light of the world. A 
city set on a hill can not be hid. Neither do men 
light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but on the 
stand ; and it shineth unto all that are in the house. 
Even so let your light shine before men; that they 
may see your good works, and glorify your Father 
who is in heaven.” — Matt., 5:14-16. Again, Peter 
says, “Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pil- 
grims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war 
against the soul; having your behavior seemingly 
among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak 
against you as evil doers, they may by your good 


135 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


works, which they behold, glorify God in the day 
of visitation. Be subject to every ordinance of man 
for the Lord’s sake: whether to the king, as su- 
preme; or unto governors, as sent by him for ven- 
geance on evil doers, and for praise to them that 
do well. For so is the will of God, that by well do- 
ing ye should put to silence the ignorance of fool- 
ish men.” — i Peter 2:11-15. 

3d, Since the New Testament was reduced to 
writing, the Holy Spirit has put forth His 
convicting and converting power upon the 
heart of the sinner, through the written Word. 
The great truths of the New Testament were 
dictated to the Apostles and other inspired 
writers by the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “we 
speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, 
but which the Holy Spirit teacheth.” — i Cor., 2:13. 
Therefore, he who reads or hears some faithful 
preacher expound the truths of the New Covenant, 
hears the words of the Holy Spirit ; and, if his 
heart responds to the teaching, he is influenced or 
persuaded to turn from his sins and lead a better 
life by the Holy Spirit operating upon him through 
the New* Testament. Who, if his heart is not right 
in the sight of God, can read the New Testament 
without feeling condemned? The power by which 


136 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


God convinces and converts the sinner, is contained 
in the gospel. Paul says, “I am not ashamed of 
the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salva- 
tion to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, 
and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a 
righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is 
written, But the righteous shall live by faith.” — 
Rom., 1:16-17. Solomon says, “For the king’s word 
hath power.” — Ecc., 8:4. The New Testament is 
the Word of God and contains His power unto sal- 
vation. The Holy Spirit, operating through the 
written Word, convicts the sinner of his sins. Not 
only that, but the Holy Spirit, operating through 
this medium, makes him who would be saved, wise 
unto salvation. Paul said to Timothy, “and that 
from a babe thou has known the sacred writings 
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation 
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” — ii Tim., 
3:15. Again, David says, “the law of Jehovah is 
perfect, restoring the soul: the testimony of Jeho- 
vah is sure, making wise the simple.” — Ps., 19-7. The 
following things are necessary to the salvation of 
the sinner: (a) He must have faith. This the Holy 
Spirit produces in his heart through the New Tes- 
tament. “So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing 
by the word of Christ.” — Rom., 10:17. (b) He must 


137 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


repent of his sins. The goodness of God leads him 
to repentance. (Rom., 2:4.) The Holy Spirit re- 
veals to him the goodness or love of God for the 
world through the New Testament. “For God so 
loved the world, that He gave His only begotton 
Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not 
perish, but have eternal life.” — John 3:16. (c) He 

must confess Christ before men. This fact the Holy 
Spirit reveals to him through the written Word. 
“Every one therefore who shall confess me before 
men, him will I also confess before my Father who 
is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before 
men, him will I. also deny before my Father who is 
in heaven.” — Matt., 10:32-33. (d) He must be 

baptized into Christ. This fact is also made known 
to him by the Holy Spirit through the New Testa- 
ment. “For as many of you as were baptized into 
Christ did put on Christ.” — Gal., 3:27. (e) He 

must add to his faith all the Christian graces. The 
Holy Spirit, through the New Testament, tells him 
what these graces are, (ii Peter 1:5-7) and con- 
cludes by saying to him that if he will do these 
things, there shall be richly supplied unto him the 
entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, (ii Peter 1:11). Truly is 
the New Testament, as given by the Holy Spirit, 


138 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


sufficient for man. It is “ inspired of God is also 
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, 
for instruction which is in righteousness: that the 
man of God may be complete, furnished completely 
unto every good work.” — ii Tim., 3:16-17. What 
more does man want, or what more does he need? 


139 





















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THE BIRTH OF WATER 
AND OF THE SPIRIT 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, ver- 
ily, I say unto thee, Except one he born anew, he 
can not see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith 
unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? 
can he enter the second time into his mother ’s womb 
and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, Isay 
unto thee, Except one be born of water and the 
Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God. 
— John 3:3-5. 


142 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER YI. 


THE BIRTH OF WATER AND OF THE SPIRIT. 

The subject of the “New Birth,” or, using the 
exact Bible phrase, the birth of “water and of the 
Spirit,” is one of vast importance to all who have 
any interest in the teaching of the Bible. In order 
to understand this subject thoroughly, it is neces- 
sary that we study closely and prayerfully the 
conversation between Christ and Nicodemus. It 
reads as follows: 

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees, nam- 
ed Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews : the same came 
unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know, 
that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one 
can do these signs that thou doest, except God be 
with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Ver- 
ily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born 
anew, he can not see the kingdom of God. Nico- 
demus saith unto him, How can a man be born 
when he is old? Can he enter the second time into 
his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, 


143 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born 
of water and the Spirit, he can not enter into the 
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh 
is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is 
spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must 
be born anew. The wind bloweth where it will, 
and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not 
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is ev- 
ery one that is born of the Spirit.” — John 3:1-8. 

Before we enter into the main discussion of 
this subject, we want to call attention to three 
thoughts that are suggested by this Scripture which, 
if we study them closely, will materially assist us 
in arriving at the truth of the text. They are, (a) 
Jesus uses no qualifying word before the noun, 
“water,” but uses the definite article or adjective 
before the noun, “Spirit,” thus showing that, in 
order to enter into the kingdom of God, a person 
must be born of “water” — any water — and “the 
Spirit” — a certain or definite Spirit — the Holy 
Spirit, (b) “The wind bloweth where it will, and 
thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not 
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is ev- 
ery one that is born of the Spirit.” This particular 
phrase in our Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus 
has caused no little discussion among the follow* 


144 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ers of Christ. Some preachers declare that the 
birth of water and of the Spirit is a great mystery 
— that the Spirit comes like the wind — does His 
work in some mysterious and miraculous way, 
passes on and you can not tell from what direction 
He comes, how He does His work in conversion, or 
anything about Him. These men are badly mis- 
taken in their views on this subject. Jesus never 
said a word about the process by which a person 
is born of water and of the Spirit, being a mystery, 
or like the wind either. What did He say? His 
words are: “the wind bloweth where it will, and 
thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not 
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is ev- 
ery one that is born of the Spirit.” The phrase, 
“so is every one that is born of the Spirit,” lifts 
the mystery, if there be any, from the process by 
which a man is born into the kingdom, and places 
it on the person, and that, too, after he is born and 
not while he is “being” born. Jesus nowhere 
teaches that the way in which a person is “born 
again,” is a mystery, but on the other hand the Bi- 
ble tells us that the way of salvation from sin is 
so plain that “the wayfaring men, though fools, 
shall not err therein.” (c) Jesus said to Nico- 
demus, “Except one be born of water and the Spirit, 


145 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


he can not enter into the kingdom of God.” From 
this language we learn that the birth of water and 
the Spirit, whatever it is, is necessary to one’s en- 
tering into the kingdom of God; and that no per- 
son of sound mind and mature years can be saved 
without it, for no one with any .knowledge of the Bi- 
ble will contend that he can have his sins pardoned, 
be a true follower of Christ, and at the same time 
be outside of the kingdom of God. 

What did Jesus mean by the expression, “born 
of water and the Spirit?” This subject will not be 
hard to understand if we will bear in mind that, 
before the New Will or Testament was confirmed 
by the death of Christ, and while He was yet on 
the earth, He taught in parables and figures. Mat- 
thew says, “all these things spake Jesus in para- 
bles unto the multitudes: and without a parable 
spake He nothing unto them.” — Matt., 13:34. To 
illustrate, while fore-telling the growth of His king- 
dom, Jesus used the parable of the mustard seed, 
and while teaching the people of God’s anxiety for 
the salvation of every soul, He used the parables 
of the lost sheep and the lost coin. Jesus did not 
deviate from this manner of teaching when in this 
conversation with Nicodemus. In this intercourse 
He was laboring to teach him how he could be sav- 


140 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ed from his sins under the gospel reign which He, 
through His Apostles, was soon to establish on the 
earth; and, in His effort to enlighten the mind of 
this great Jewish ruler, He took up the figure of 
the fleshly or natural birth. Surely then, there 
must be some similarity between the way in which 
a child is born into the natural world and the way 
in which a man is born into the kingdom of God. 
Therefore let us study the natural or fleshly birth, 
in order that we may learn something about the 
way in which we pass out of death into life. 

1st, In order to a birth, either natural or Spir- 
itual, there must be parentage — a father and a 
mother. Who then, are our Spiritual parents? (a) 
The Bible teaches us that God is our Spiritual Fa- 
ther. The proof for this is abundant. Jesus taught 
His disciples to address God in their prayers as, 
“our Father who art in heaven.’ ’ — Matt., 6:9. Paul 
says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Fa- 
ther.” — Rom., 1:7. Again, John says, “Behold 
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed up- 
on us, that we should be called the children of God ; 
and such we are. For this cause the world know- 
eth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now- 
are we children of God, and it is not yet made man- 
ifest what we shall be. We know that, if he shall 


147 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall 
see Him even as He is.” — i John 3:1-2. Other 
Scriptures might be quoted, but these are sufficient 
to prove that Hod is our Spiritual Father, (b) Who, 
or what is our Spiritual mother? Metaphorically, 
or figuratively speaking, the Church of Christ is 
our Spiritual mother. The reader will please bear 
in mind that types and figures, while they are nu- 
merous throughout both the Old and New Testa- 
ments, their analogical significance must be limit- 
ed, and not pressed too far. To illustrate, Jesus is 
called a lion, but the inspired writer did not intend 
to convey the idea that Jesus is like a lion in every 
particular, but only in His noble, heroic, and un- 
conquerable nature. The lion roars, bounds upon, 
and devours his innocent victim and is therefore, in 
this and many other respects, unlike Christ. So it 
is with the Church of Christ. While the Bible rep- 
resents it as being our Spiritual mother, we must 
remember that it is used in a metaphorical sense 
and, like all other expressions of this kind, must 
be kept within the limits of its analogical meaning. 
That the Bible represents the Church of Christ as 
being our Spiritual mother, is evident from the fol- 
lowing Scriptures: Paul in his allegory, refers to 
the New Covenant, or the Church of Christ, as the 


148 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


free woman, the Jerusalem that is above, “which is 
our mother.’ ’ — Gal., 4:26. The heavenly Jerusalem, 
answering in the allegory, to the free woman, is the 
Church — our Spiritual mother ; hence, in the thirty- 
first verse the Apostle says, “wherefore, brethren, 
we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free 
woman.” Here we see that the New Covenant, or 
the Church, is represented as a woman and that 
Paul tells the Hebrew Christians that they are her 
children. Isaiah looked down the ages and when 
his prophetical gaze rested upon the Church of 
Christ, he said, “for as soon as Zion travailed, she 
brought forth her children.” — Isa., 66:8. All 
through this chapter Isaiah represents Zion (the 
Church) as possessing all the elements of mother- 
hood. He continues by saying, “Shall I bring to 
the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith Je- 
hovah: shall I that cause to bring forth shut the 
womb? saith thy God. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, 
and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice 
for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that 
ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of 
her consolations; that we may milk out, and be de- 
lighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus 
saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her 
like a river, and the glory of the nations like an 


149 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye 
shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled 
upon the knees. As one whom his mother com- 
forteth, so will I comfort you ; and ye shall be com- 
forted in Jerusalem. ” — Verses 9-13. Who will 
deny that Isaiah had reference to the Church of 
Christ? The elements of motherhood are just such 
as can best illustrate the kindness, tenderness, and 
nourishment afforded by the Church to those whom 
she has been instrumental in saving from a life of 
sin. Her little children who are “born again/ ’ and 
who “desire the sincere milk of the word that they 
may grow thereby,” lie nestled in the Church’s 
bosom as quietly and as free from fear and danger 
as the innocent babe in its mother’s arms. It is 
the motherhood element in the church that affords 
a perpetual and untiring w T atch care over her chil- 
dren. They can not travel beyond the boundaries 
of her maternal love, or sink so deep in sin that 
she will not extend to them an arm of salvation and 
plant the kiss of forgiveness upon the sin mired 
cheeks of her returning children. When they are 
sick, she calls the “great Physician,” when they are 
thirsty, she gives them water from the “living 
fountain,” and when they are hungry, she feeds 
them on “the bread of life.” Add to this then, the 


150 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


love and unerring counsel of our heavenly Father, 
and the figure is both beautiful and complete. God 
is our Spiritual Father and the Church of Christ 
is represented in the Bible as our Spiritual mother. 

2d, In order to a birth, the subject must be 
begotten by the father. This is true in both the 
natural and Spiritual birth. Therefore, in order 
for us to be “born anew,” or “born of water and 
the Spirit,” we must be begotten of God. John 
says, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ 
is begotten of God : and whosoever loveth him that 
begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.” — 
i John 5:1. In the eighteenth verse of this same 
chapter we have this language, “We know that 
whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not; but he 
that was begotten of God keepeth himself, and the 
evil one toucheth him not.” Somebody may ask, 
“How does God beget us?” Let the Bible tell us. 
James says, “Of his own will he brought us forth 
by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of 
first fruits of his creatures.” — James 1:18. Peter 
says, “having been begotten again, not of corrupt- 
ible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of 
God, which liveth and abideth.” — i Peter 1:23. 
Again, Paul says, “For though ye have ten 
thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many 


151 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


fathers ; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the 
gospel.” — i Cor., 4:15. From these Scriptures we 
learn that the 1 ‘ word of truth,” which is the gospel 
of Christ, is the means by which God begets us. 
But some one may ask just here, “If it is God that 
begets, what did Paul mean by saying to the Cor- 
inthians, that ‘I begat you!’ ” We will answer 
this by saying that the “Gospel of Christ” is the 
Spiritual seed by which we are begotten and, while 
God is its author, He has committed the ministry 
of reconciliation into the hands of men (ii Cor., 
5:18), and has ordained that His faithful servants 
should preach it to every creature of earth, that 
He might, “through the foolishness of the preaching, 
save them that believe.” (i Cor., 1:21.) Hence, when 
Paul preached to the Corinthians and they heard 
and believed the truths he preached, they were be- 
gotten of Paul insomuch that he was the agent 
through which the preaching was done, and they 
were also begotten of God insomuch that He is the 
author of the truths preached. To illustrate, Mr. 
Sanders gives Mr. Gray a check for two hundred 
dollars and tells him to go and buy a certain horse. 
Mr. Gray takes the money, buys the horse, and de- 
livers him to Mr. Sanders. Who bought the horse? 
Is any one prepared to affirm that Mr. Gray pur- 


152 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


chased the horse and that Mr. Sanders had nothing 
to do with the transaction? No. Mr. Gray bought 
the horse insomuch that he negotiated or brought 
about his purchase, and Mr. Sanders bought him 
insomuch that he furnished the means by which the 
purchase was made. So it was with Paul. He be- 
gat the Corinthians insomuch that he preached to 
them the g;ospel which was able to make them wise 
unto salvation; and God begat them insomuch that 
He is the author of the word of life which was able 
to and did save their souls. Paul says, “For I am 
not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” — 
Rom., 1 :16. From this quotation we learn that 
faith or belief is one of the essentials to the new 
birth. How is faith produced? In some miraculous 
way? No. God has ordained that faith shall be 
produced in the alien’s heart by words spoken by 
His faithful servants. Peter says. “Brethren, ye 
know that a good while ago God made choice 
among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should 
hear the word of the gospel, and believe.’ ’ — Acts 
15:7. Paul corroborates Peter’s statment by saying, 
“so belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the 
word of Christ.” — Rom., 10:17. Again, the words of 
our Saviour to His Apostles when He gave them the 


153 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


world wide commission prove conclusively ‘that our 
position is correct. He said, “all authority hath 
been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye 
therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, 
baptizing them into the name of the Father and of 
the Son and of the Holy Spirit : teaching them to 
observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: 
and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end 
of the world. ” — Matt., 28:18-20. Somebody may 
ask, “As none of the Apostles are living, who is 
commissioned to preach the gospel now?” Paul 
says to Timothy, “And the things which thou hast 
heard from me among many witnesses, the same 
commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to 
teach others also/’ — ii Tim., 2:2. By summing up 
what we have gone over, we learn the following 
things: (a) God is our Spiritual Father; (b) the 
Church of Christ is our Spiritual mother; (c) God 
begets us by the word of truth; (d) that the gospel 
is God’s power unto salvation to every one who 
believes it; (e) that the preaching of the gospel to 
the sinner produces faith in his heart ; and, (f ) that 
God has ordained that “faithful men” should 
preach the gospel to every creature of earth. 

Some one, doubtless, is ready to ask, “Is a man 
born again as soon as he believes?” Why not ask, 


154 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


“Is a child born as soon as it is begotten V’ Devils 
believed and trembled, (Jas. 2:19) and acknowledge 
Christ as the Son of God, (Mark 3:11). Were they 
born again? Jesus told a certain class of Jews who 
believed on Him that they were of their father, the 
devil, and that the lusts of him they did. (John 
8:31-44). Were they born again? A person can be- 
lieve in Christ and be penitent and not be born 
again. Such was Paul or Saul’s condition before 
Ananias told him what he must do that his sins 
might be washed away. (Acts 9:1-18; 22:1-16). 
Again, a person can believe, be pentitent, moral, 
and alms giving and not be born again. This was 
Cornelius’ condition before Peter told him words 
whereby he and his house could be saved. (Acts 
10:1-2; 11:1-14.) In both of these cases, we see 
that it was necessary for some man to tell these 
pentitent believers what they had to do to be sav- 
ed. At the very beginning of the gospel reign on 
earth, God committed the keys of the Kingdom of 
heaven and the ministry of reconciliation into the 
hands of men, (Matt., 16:19; John 20:21-23; ii Cor., 
5:18) and there is not a case on record where God, 
since the death of His Son, ever pardoned one man 
without the agency of another man. 

When a man believes the gospel and, with 


155 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


meekness, receives it into an honest heart, he is be- 
gotten of God and is ready or prepared to be born. 
The vital principle of the Spiritual life is implant- 
ed in his heart, but he is no more born Spiritually 
when he first believes, or believes only, than he was 
born physically the moment he was conceived. The 
office of a birth is not to give life, but to bring life 
which is previously possessed, into a state of inde- 
pendent existence. When a person believes the 
gospel, he is begotten of God and can either accept 
or refuse the God appointed means by which he can 
be born into the Kingdom of heaven. Here the 
analogy between the natural and Spiritual birth is 
broken. In his physical birth, the man had no 
agency in either being begotten or born. But not 
so with regard to his Spiritual birth. In it he has 
an agency. He can hear, believe, and obey the gos- 
pel and thus be born into the Kingdom of God, or 
he can, as many do, refuse the Bible conditions of 
salvation and be lost forever. A birth is a transi- 
tion — a changing from one state to another — or the 
beginning of a new life. The New Testament con- 
tains a great many expressions and figures, the 
meaning of which is in perfect harmony with the 
idea expressed in the phrase, “born again.” Paul 
told the brethren at Rome that they had received 


156 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


the “Spirit of adoption” (Rom., 8:15), and told 
those at Colosse that God had translated them “in- 
to the Kingdom of the Son of his love.” (Col., 1 :13.) 
If a man is adopted into the family of God or trans- 
lated into the Kingdom of His Son, his state is 
changed — he is born again. 

Somebody is ready to say, “Explain the birth 
of water and the Spirit. What is it?” When we 
study this subject in connection with other parts 
of the Scriptures, it is -easily understood. Before 
the New Testament was confirmed by His death, 
and while His Kingdom was still in prospect, Jesus 
taught in parables and figures, but after the estab- 
lishment of the kingdom, parables and figures gave 
way to facts, commandments, and promises. Parables 
and figures ended at the cross and the facts, com- 
mandments, and promises of the gospel began at 
Pentecost. It was during the time that para- 
bles and figures were used, that Christ spoke 
to Nicodemus. He used the figure of a 
birth to teach Nicodemus what he would 
have to do to be saved under the gospel reign which 
was soon to be inaugurated. To the end that Nic- 
odemus and every other creature of gospel ad- 
dress might have an opportunity to learn the way 
into the Kingdom which was soon to be establish- 


157 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ed, Jesus chose twelve Apostles and, after having 
taught them the great truths of His prospective 
Kingdom for almost three and a half years, He said 
to them, “these things have I spoken to you in dark 
sayings: the hour cometh, when I shall no more 
speak unto you in dark sayings, but shall tell you 
plainly of the Father.” — John 16:25. In other 
words, He said, now — before the New Will is con- 
firmed — before the Kingdom is established — I speak 
to you in dark sayings, (parables) but the time is 
coming — after the New Will is confirmed by my 
death — after the Kingdom is established — when I 
shall no more speak to you in proverbs, but will 
strip the great facts of the gospel of their parabo- 
lical meaning and speak to you plainly. To enable 
His Apostles to carry out His world wide commis- 
sion after the Kingdom was established, Jesus 
promised them the keys of the Kingdom, (Matt., 
16:19; John 20:22), all authority in heaven and in 
earth, so far as the proclamation of the gospel was 
concerned (Matt., 28:18-19; John 17:18; 20:21). and 
the personal guidance of the Holy Spirit. (John 
16:13). When Christ died on the cross, the Law 
of Moses ended (Col., 2:14), the New Testament 
was confirmed (Heb., 9:15-18) and, when the Holy 
Spirit came to the Apostles on Pentecost, the Spirit- 


168 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ual reign began. (Acts 11:15.) Parables had giv- 
en away to facts — things which had been spoken in 
proverbs or figures, had then to be spoken “plain- 
ly.” Now, in the light of these facts before us, let 
us study the birth of water and of the Spirit. Christ, 
speaking in a figure, told Nicodemus that the way 
into the Kingdom of God, was by a birth of water 
and the Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Peter, 
while inspired by the Holy Spirit, said to the three 
thousand souls whose heart had been pricked by 
the gospel message, “repent ye, and be baptized ev- 
ery one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the 
remission of your sins ; and ye shall receive the gift 
of the Holy Spirit.” — Acts 2:38. No one can be 
in the Kingdom of God without having his sins re- 
mitted, or can he have his sins remitted without be- 
ing in the Kingdom of God. (The same process that 
makes a person a Christian, makes him a member 
of the Church of Christ.) When preceded by other 
gospel requirements, baptism puts us into Christ. 
Paul says, “For as many of you as were baptized 
into Christ did put on Christ.” — Gal., 3:27. To be 
in Christ is to be in the Kingdom, seeing that 
Christ’s body is the Church. Paul says, “Now I re- 
joice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on 
my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of 


15© 


THE HO LY SPIR1 T 


Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the 
church.” — ■'Col., 1:24. Therefore, since the three 
thousand on Pentecost were baptized into Christ 
where they could not have entered without being 
‘ 4 born of water and the Spirit, ’ ’ it follows that what 
Peter told the people on Pentecost, was the same 
as that which Christ told Nicodemus, as it gave 
them the remission of their sins and put them into 
the Kingdom of God. Somebody may ask, “why 
didn’t Peter tell the people on Pentecost just what 
Christ told Nicodemus?” He did. Christ spoke to 
Nicodemus while His Kingdom was in prospect and, 
therefore, spoke in a “proverb.” (John 16:25) 
while Peter spoke after the Kingdom was establish- 
ed and, instead of using a figure as Christ did, he 
stripped the gospel command of its parabolical na- 
ture and spoke the truth plainly. 

Another one may ask here, “What is meant by 
4 water ’ and 4 Spirit ? ’ How is a man born of them ? * ’ 
We answer that a man is born of water as a means 
appointed of the Spirit, just in the same sense that 
he is begotten by the gospel, as a means appointed 
of our heavenly Father for that purpose. When a 
man believes the gospel, repents of his sins, con- 
fesses Christ, and is immersed into the name of 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he is born of water 


160 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


and the Spirit. He is born of water because it is 
the womb of the church, or the element out of 
which he comes forth; and, he is born of the Spirit 
because He is the appointer of this, Christ’s plan 
of man’s entering into the Kingdom of God. 


1GI 



THE RECEPTION OF THE 
HOLY SPIRIT 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and 
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any 
man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God de- 
stroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are 
ye. — i Corinthians 3 :16-17. 


104 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER VII. 


THE RECEPTION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

That the Holy Spirit, as a comforter, dwells in 
the heart of the devoted child of God, no one who 
reads and believes the Bible will deny. But the 
question in which we are most concerned just here 
is not, “Does the Holy Spirit, in some way, dwell 
in the heart of every Christian?” but, rather, “How 
does He dwell in them?” Some Christian men and 
women claim that the Holy Spirit does not only 
dwell in them literally, but that He endows them 
with a certain amount of supernatural knowledge 
and power. Still there are others who claim that 
the Holy Spirit dwells in them only figuratively, or 
by His teaching through the written word — just 
like the spirit of George Washington dwells in those 
who are in possession of something he said or wrote 
while living. It seems that the untenable and un- 
scriptural position assumed by the advocates of the 
former theory has stimulated those of the latter to 
swing to the opposite extreme, which is equally as 


165 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


far from the Bible teaching on the subject. We 
think both of these theories are wrong. We believe 
the first mentioned one is incorrect because its ad- 
vocates claim too much. From a preceding chap- 
ter of this work we have already learned that the 
miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were not to be 
general and perpetual, as is claimed by the adher- 
ents of this theory, but that they were to cease 
when the New Testament was reduced to writing. 
The advocates of the second mentioned theory are 
also wrong in their views on this subject. They 
seem to forget that the words in which a thought 
is conveyed, are not the thought itself, or that the 
truths suggested or taught by a person is not the 
person himself. Their theory is therefore wrong, be- 
cause it teaches that all they receive are the truths 
taught by the Holy Spirit and not the Holy Spirit 
Himself; while the Bible teaches that God gives, 
not only the truths taught by the Holy Spirit, but 
the Holy Spirit Himself to those who obey Him. 
(Acts 5:32.) Seeing that both of these theories are 
wrong, let us turn to the Bible and see what we can 
learn about the subject now in hand. To this end 
we shall try to produce Scriptural answers to the 
following questions: 

1st, Do the New Testament Scriptures teach 


100 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


that the Holy Spirit really and literally dwells in 
our hearts? 2d, How do we receive the Holy 
Spirit? 3d, Upon what conditions does God give 
us the Holy Spirit? 4th, What is the evidence of 
His presence in our hearts? 5th, What does the 
Holy Spirit do for us while dwelling in us? 

1st, Do the New Testament Scriptures teach 
that the Holy Spirit really and literally dwells in 
our hearts? We believe they do. But as this is a 
Bible question, we will let the New Testament an- 
swer it for us. During His personal ministry, Jesus 
said to His disciples, “If ye then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, how 
much more shall your heavenly Father give the 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him.’ , — Luke 11:13. 
Here our Saviour declares that God will give, not 
merely the teaching of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy 
Spirit Himself to those who ask Him. One may 
object here by saying that, “during the personal 
ministry of Christ and for the first seventy years 
after His death, God did give the Holy Spirit to 
certain individuals, but such is not the case now.” 
It is well to remember just here that since the be- 
ginning of the Spiritual reign, God has given the 
Holy Spirit in different measures to different indi- 
viduals, but we must be careful and not explain 


167 


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away all of the Bible in special application, leaving 
nothing applicable to us at all. That it is God's 
purpose to give the Holy Spirit, as a comforter, to 
each one of His children throughout the Christian 
age, is evident, we think, from the following Scrip- 
tures: On the day of Pentecost, when the three 
thousand souls whose hearts were pricked by the 
truths they had heard, cried out saying, “ Brethren, 
what shall we do?" Peter said to them, “Repent 
ye and be baptized every one of you in the name 
of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; 
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For 
to you is the promise, and to your children, and to 
all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our 
God shall call.” — Acts 2:37-39. Here the Apostle 
told the three thousand that, if they would repent 
and be baptized unto the remission of their sins, 
they would receive the “gift of the Holy Spirit.” 
Is this all he told them? No. He goes on and 
shows them that the gift of the Holy Spirit was 
promised to them, to their children, to those who 
were afar off, and to all whom the Lord should call. 
From this language we learn that the “gift of the 
Holy Spirit” was not to be special and limited, as 
some Bible readers claim, but that it was to be 
general and perpetuated throughout the Christian 


168 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


age. That the “gift of the Holy Spirit” mentioned 
by Peter on Pentecost has reference to the Holy 
Spirit Himself and not to the salvation from sin 
offered by Him, is evident from Peter’s words be- 
fore the council in Jerusalem. He says, “And we 
are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy 
Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey 
him. 5 ’ — Acts 5 :32. Prom this verse of Scripture we 
learn that God gives the Holy Spirit Himself to 
those who obey Him. Paul says, “But if the Spirit 
of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in 
you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead 
shall give life also to your mortal bodies through 
his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” — Rom., 8:11. This 
Scripture proves that the Holy Spirit dwells in the 
Christian’s heart in a literal sense. But we are of- 
ten told that this is figurative language, that it 
means that the Holy Spirit dwells in us only in the 
sense in which His teaching dwells in us. If this 
be true, the Apostle should have told the Roman 
brethren that, in the final judgment, God would 
collect up their sleeping dust and quicken it to im- 
mortality by the knowledge or teaching of the Holy 
Spirit that dwelt in them. According to this posi- 
tion, all of the pious unlearned will have to sleep 
on even after the judgment because there is no 


169 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


knowledge or teaching of the Holy Spirit dwelling 
in them, while all of the learned infidels who have 
a knowledge of the Holy Spirit’s teaching will be 
quickened to an immortal life. The same writer 
says, “Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, 
and that the Spirit of God dwell eth in you.” — i 
Cor., 3:16. Again he says, “And because ye are 
sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our 
hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” — Gal., 4:6. We 
could quote many other verses of Scripture which 
prove that the Holy Spirit, as a comforter, dwells 
in the Christian’s heart, but these are sufficient. 
God has spoken, let us believe Him. 

Somebody may say, “I can’t understand how 
the Holy Spirit can dwell in the heart of every child 
of God, seeing they number up into the millions and 
are scattered all over the civilized world.” That, 
no doubt is true, but is the fact that we can not 
comprehend the sacred relation which the Holy 
Spirit bears to our own Spirit, any reason why we 
should reject as untrue and absurd, the Bible doc- 
trine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the 
Christian’s heart? Can we draw such a conclusion 
and be justified in making it a precedent for all 
subsequent actions having to do with both Spirit- 
ual and natural relations or truths which we can 


170 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


not understand? Shall the farmer refuse to sow 
the seed because he does not understand how it 
grows ? Shall we refuse to listen to the music of the 
graphophone because we cannot understand how it 
reproduces the human voice? Shall we refuse to 
be cheered by the songs of the birds because we 
can not understand how they can produce such 
sweet and harmonious music? Shall we close our 
eyes to the light of the sun and refuse to be fan- 
ned by the ocean breeze, because we can not un- 
derstand all about nature and her laws? You say 
no. Is it any more reasonable, then, that we should 
deny the doctrine of the literal indwelling of the 
Holy Spirit, because we can not understand how 
He can make His abode in human hearts? Cer- 
tainly not. We can not tell how our own spirit 
dwells in our body. Yet it does. Though so diverse 
in nature, our body and spirit dwell together. How 
beautifully and sweetly are they blended into one 
being, acting and reacting upon each other, thus 
forming such a pleasing and mutual companionship. 
Yet, we do not understand how our spirit dwells 
in us or how the relationship between the body and 
spirit is formed. '‘Who knoweth the spirit of man 
that goeth upw T ard, and the spirit of the beast that 
goeth downward to the earth V’ Were it God’s 


171 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


will that we know just how the Holy Spirit dwells 
in the Christian, the Bible would tell us, but since 
it nowhere says, the question, “How does the Holy 
Spirit dwell in t! j human heart?” must in this 
work, as well as in all others of human origin, re- 
main unanswered. It is in that class of “secret 
things” which belong to the Lord our God. 

2d, How do we receive the Holy Spirit ? 

We have already learned that Christians re- 
ceive the Holy S; lilt, and now we come to investi- 
gate the way in which, or more properly speaking, 
the means through which they receive Him. The 
Apostle says, “and hope putteth not to shame; be- 
cause the love of God hath been shed abroad in our 
hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given 
unto us.” — Rom., 5 :5. From this quotation we learn 
that the Holy Spirit is given to us. But how is He 
given? Is He given mediately, or immediately? 
Jesus told His disciples that God would give the 
Holy Spirit to them that ask Him, (Luke 11 :13) but 
He does not say whether He will give Him through 
some means, or without any means. Bread is a gift 
from God and Christ told His disciples to pray for 
it, but we learn from Gen., 3:19 that man should 
eat bread in the sweat of his face, and Paul told the 
Thessalonians that “if any will not work, neither 


172 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


let him eat.” — ii Thes., 3:10 . God gives us bread, 
but it is through His well organized system of na- 
ture. If by refusing to till the soil, we ignore God’s 
plan of feeding His people, we will starve physic- 
ally. So it is in Spiritual things. God gives us sal- 
vation, but we must purify our souls by “obeying 
the truth” — (i Peter 1:22). So it is with our re- 
ceiving the Holy Spirit. God gives us the 
Holy Spirit as a comforter, but He has pro- 
vided a system of means through which He con- 
veys the Holy Spirit to us. Paul says, “This only 
would I learn from you, Received ye the Spirit by 
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith.” — 
Gal., 3:2. From the expression, “works of law,” 
and “hearing of faith,” it is evident that the Apos- 
tle was contrasting the Law of Moses and its ser- 
vice, with the gospel of Christ and its service. Hence 
the word, “hearing,” must mean more than the 
mere reception of sound. It means the act of ac- 
cepting and doing God’s will. We might quote 
many passages where the word “hear” implies 
obedience, but we will give but one. “And it shall 
be, that every soul that shall not harken to that 
prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the 
people.” — Acts 3:23. By the word, “faith,” the 
Apostle undoubtedly meant to express more than 


173 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


the mere act of giving credence to the truths re- 
vealed by the New Testament. It comprehends the 
whole gospel plan of salvation, or the Law of the 
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. To prove that our 
interpretation of this verse is in keeping with other 
parts of the New Testament, we will quote a few 
passages in which the word “ faith” is used as a 
synonym for gospel. “ Where then is the glorying? 
It is excluded. By what manner of law ? Of works ? 
Nay: but by a law of faith.” — Rom., 3:27. Again, 
“but they only heard say, he that once persecuted 
us now preacheth the faith of which he once made 
havoc.” — Gal., 1:23. Once more, “But before faith 
came, we were kept in ward under the law, shut 
up unto the faith which should afterwards be re- 
vealed.” — Gal., 3:23. Wilson’s Emphatic Diaglott 
renders the passage in Galatians 3:2, as follows: 
“This only I desire to learn from you; Did you re- 
ceive the Spirit on account of works of law, or on 
account of obedience?” Therefore, if our inter- 
pretation of Gal., 3 :2, and the rendering of the 
same by the authority quoted, be correct, it follows 
that the Galatians received the Holy Spirit by 
obedience to the gospel. God has made no change 
in His law or manner of giving the Holy Spirit to 
His children since the day in which Paul wrote his 


174 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 

letter to the Galatians, therefore we too receive the 
Holy Spirit through obedience to the gospel. 

3d, Upon what conditions does God give us the 
Holy Spirit? 

If our heavenly Father gives us food, clothing, 
and salvation from sin, only upon the condition that 
we comply with the requirements stipulated in His 
laws governing such gifts, it is not reasonable to 
suppose that He will give us the Holy Spirit unless 
we comply with certain conditions, the nature of 
which He has plainly revealed to us through the 
written word. Let us then turn to the New Testa- 
tament and see upon what conditions God has prom- 
ised to give us the Holy Spirit. Just before His 
crucifixion Jesus spoke to His disciples, saying, “If 
ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. And 
I will pray the Father, and He shall give you an- 
other Comforter, that he may be with you forever, 
even the Spirit of truth: whom the world can not 
receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth 
him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and 
shall be in you. ” — John 14:15-17. When Peter and 
the other Apostles were brought before the council 
at Jerusalem they said, “The God of our fathers 
raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging him on a 
tree. Him did God exalt with his right hand to be 


175 


THE HOLY SPIRI T 


a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, 
and remission of sins. And we are witnesses of 
these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God 
hath given to them that obey him.” — Acts 5:30-32. 
Again, Paul said to the Galatian brethren, “And 
because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of 
his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father.” — 
Gal., 4:6. From these Scriptures we learn the fol- 
lowing things: (a) That Jesus promised to give 
His disciples the Holy Spirit providing they loved 
Him and kept His commandments; (b) that the 
world (people who are not Christians) can not re- 
ceive Him; (c) that God gives the Holy Spirit to 
“them that obey him;” and (d) that because we 
are sons (not before we are, or to make us sons) 
God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, 
“crying, Abba Father.” Righteousness has no fel- 
lowship with unrighteousness, neither will the Holy 
Spirit dwell in a heart that is inhabited with an un- 
holy spirit. Therefore, in order to have the Holy 
Spirit dwell in our hearts as a Comforter, we must 
be both free from sin and the servants or right- 
eousness. How can we reach this state in mind and 
life? Let the Apostle tell us. He says, “But thanks 
be to God, that, whereas ye were the servants of 
sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that form 


176 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


of teaching whereunto ye were delivered ; and be- 
ing made free from sin, ye became servants of 
righteousness. ” — Rom., 6:17-18. Hence it follows 
that God gives us the Holy Spirit only on the con- 
dition that we purify our souls by obeying the 
truth, (i Peter 1:22.) Let us not stop with obed- 
ience to the first principles of the gospel, but rather 
take heed to all things spoken by Christ and His 
Apostles “and continue in them,” for otherwise, as 
it was in Saul’s case, the Holy Spirit will depart 
from us. (i Sam., 16:14.) 

4th, What is the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s 
presence in our hearts? 

The fruit test is the only test. Paul says, “the 
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, 
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self- 
control; against such there is no law. And they 
that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with 
the passions and lusts thereof. If we live by the 
Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. Let us not 
become vain glorious, provoking one another, envy- 
ing one another.” — Gal., 5:22-26. Without the tree, 
there can be no fruit. The Christ-like life manifest- 
ed in our lives is the only evidence of the Holy 
Spirit’s presence in our hearts. When, after we have 
obeyed the gospel and show, not only in pretense, 


177 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


but in actual words and deeds, that we both live 
and walk in the Spirit, we are bearing the '‘fruit 
of the Spirit’’ which is the only evidence that He 
dwells in our hearts. Jesus says, “Beware of false 
prophets, who will come to you in sheep’s clothing, 
but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits 
ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes of 
thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree 
bringeth forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree 
bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree can not bring 
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring 
forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not 
forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the 
fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” 
— Matt,, 7 :15 :20. This thought may be more clear- 
ly brought out by the following illustration: Two 
boys who were twin brothers were left orphans at 
the age of two years. Immediately following the 
death of their parents, one of the boys was adopted 
by Mr. J., who was a very wicked and profane man, 
and the other one was adopted by Mr. G., a splen- 
did Christian gentleman. While very diverse in 
their manner of living, these men were friends and 
lived in the same city. Mr. C., a man who had been 
acquainted with both Mr. J. and Mr. G. for a num- 
ber of years, and who knew the general makeup of 


17 § 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


both men, moved from the city about the time these 
foster parents adopted the boys. Twenty years 
later he concluded to visit with his friends back in 
his old home city. Upon his arrival he learned that 
the foster parents were both dead and knew, of 
course, that the boys, if still living, had grown to 
manhood. While walking down a certain street 
with an old time friend Mr. C. saw a young man 
reeling under the influence of strong drink and rend- 
ing the air about him with his vile and profane lan- 
guage. He watched the unfortunate young man 
for a minute and then turned to his friend and said, 
“Mr. J. is dead, but he certainly lives in this young 
man. This young fellow walks, reels, and swears 
just like Mr. J. used to do.” His friend then in- 
formed Mr. C. that this young man was the boy 
who was adopted and reared by Mr. J. Whereupon 
Mr. C. said, “Judging from the kind of a life he 
is leading, he has the very spirit of Mr. J. dwelling 
in him.” Soon after this he met the other young 
man and, after noticing that his language was 
chaste, his countenance bright and sweet, and his 
life pure and clean, he went to him and said, “You 
w T ere very small when I saw you twenty years ago 
and I would not have recognized you were it not 
for the fact that your conversation, actions, and 


179 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


general disposition are so much like those of my 
old friend, Mr. G., your foster parent.’ ’ Each one 
of these young men showed by his actions or the 
fruit that he bore, that he had associated and walk- 
ed so closely with the man who reared him that his 
life was not only controlled by, but that in a sense, 
the spirit of his foster parent dwelled in him. So 
it is with regard to the Holy Spirit’s presence in us. 
When we, by reason of our close association and 
walk with Christ, make our lives like His, and 
when, from our words and actions, others can see 
that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him, 
we are bearing the “fruit of the Spirit,” which is, 
to ourselves and others, the only evidence of the 
Holy Spirit’s dwelling in our hearts. 

5th, What does the Holy Spirit do for us while 
dwelling in us? 

Before we notice the things that He does do, 
we think it necessary that we call attention to two 
things which He does not do, although it is claimed 
by some people that He does them. 1st, The Holy 
Spirit does not immune us from sickness or trouble 
in this life. While it is true that a great 
deal of the sickness and trouble which we 
have here could be avoided if we would ob- 
serve more closely the laws of health, which the 


180 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Bible teaches us to do, yet the flesh is heir to such 
maladies and it is not the purpose of the Christian 
life to shield us from them. One of the most Spir- 
itual characters whom it has ever been our pleas- 
ure to know, was a rheumatic victim; and, while 
she suffered almost constantly, she read her Bible 
daily, prayed without ceasing, and was never hap- 
pier than when she could speak a word of cheer and 
commend to the Saviour of men all of those who 
came to her bedside. In the words of Paul, she 
believed that, “All chastening seemeth for the pres- 
ent to be not joyous but grevious; yet afterward 
it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been 
exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness.” 
2d, the Holy Spirit, although He dwells in our hearts, 
imparts to us no new information. We know noth- 
ing about God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, or the life 
to come, except that which the Bible teaches us. 
Like Timothy, we must “give attendance to read- 
ing,” and study to show ourselves approved unto 
God, workmen that needeth not be ashamed, rightly 
dividing the word of truth. 

What, then, does the Holy Spirit do for us 
while dwelling in us? By referring to the New 
Testament, we learn that He does the following 
things: (a) He seals us. “In whom ye also, hav- 


181 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


ing heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your 
salvation — in whom, having also believed, ye were 
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” — Eph., 
1:13. Again, Paul said to the same people, 4 ‘Grieve 
not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed 
unto the day of redemption.” — Eph., 4:30. (b) He 

sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts. “And 
hope putteth not to shame ; because the love of God 
hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the 
Holy Spirit which was given unto us.” — Ram. 5:5. 
(c) The Holy Spirit helps our infirmity by making 
intercession for us. “And in like manner the Spirit 
also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not how to 
pray as we ought ; but the Spirit himself maketh in- 
tercession for us with groanings which can not be 
uttered.” — Rom. 8:26. (d) The Holy Spirit comes 

into our hearts crying Abba, Father. “And be- 
cause ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His 
Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” — Gal. 
4:6. (e) He will quicken our mortal bodies. “If 
the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the 
dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus 
from the dead shall give life also to your mortal 
bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” — 
Rom., 8:11. 

As to how the Holy Spirit seals us, sheds the 


182 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


love of God abroad in our hearts, makes interces- 
sion for us, comes into our hearts “ crying, Abba, 
Father,” and will quicken our mortal bodies, the 
Bible, so far as we have been able to learn, does not 
tell us. Therefore, we confess ourselves incapable 
to answer and leave these Scriptures without com- 
ment. 


183 


























* 






















THE WITNESS OF THE 

9 

HOLY SPIRIT 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


The Spirit himself beareth witness with our 
spirit, that we are children of God. — Romans 8:16. 


186 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


CHAPTER VIII. 


THE WITNESS OP THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Our eternal happiness depends upon our being 
children of God. Our present happiness depends 
upon our knowledge of such. We believe that God, 
out of the abundance of His goodness, has not only 
provided means by which we can be released from 
the prison house of sin, but that He has furnished 
us the evidence by which we may know of a cer- 
tainty that “we have passed out of death into life.” 
But, notwithstanding that the Bible is as clear as 
the noon day’s sun upon the question of pardon and 
its evidence, yet there is a great deal of confusion 
and doubt in the minds of some people relative to 
this subject. As a result of false teaching, some 
honest men and women believe that their feeling is 
the only evidence of their pardon from sin and their 


187 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


acceptance with God. Therefore at times, espec- 
ially during a protracted meeting when their emo- 
tional nature is worked up by the prayers, sermons, 
and songs, they feel unusually good and fancy 
themselves, as they express it, “on the mountain 
top of joy and hope,” but after the meeting is end- 
ed, the excitement all over, and their emotions set- 
tle down to their normal condition, the contrast in 
their feeling is so great that they are down in the 
valley of doubt and despair, and we hear them 
singing, 

“Dear Lord, if indeed I am thine, 

If Thou art my sun and my song, 

Say, why do I languish and pine, 

And why are my winters so long? 

Oh, drive these dark clouds from my sky; 

Thy soul-cheering presence restore; 

Lord, take me to Thee upon high, 


Where winter and clouds are no more.” 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


How inexpressible must be the misery and dis- 
tress of men and women who can sing these lines 
with the spirit and understanding ! Those who take 
their feeling as their only evidence of pardon, don’t 
seem to understand that their sensation is the result 
of their teaching, and that a lie believed will pro- 
duce the same effect as the truth. Jacob was told 
that Joseph, his favorite son, had been torn to 
pieces by a wild animal. It was a lie, Joseph was 
not dead, but it had the same effect upon his aged 
father as if it had been the truth. Jacob’s feelings 
deceived him, therefore let us be careful that our 
feelings do not deceive us. Pardon is a moral prop- 
osition and must be established by moral evidence. 
It does not take place in our hearts, but in the 
mind of God. Therefore, we can not feel our par- 
don for the reason that we can not feel that which 
takes place in God’s mind. We can know that we 
are pardoned and feel good as a result of such 
knowledge, but we can not feel our pardon and 
make our knowledge of such the result of our feel- 
ing. God’s word is so plain upon the subject of 
pardon and its evidence, that there is absolutely no 
reason why any man should be in doubt as to 
whether or not he is a child of God. Where do we 
read of Peter or Paul, James or John expressing 


189 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


any doubt as to their relation with God? Nowhere. 
There is not to be found one note of uncertainty or 
doubt in all of their writings; but, on the other 
hand, they were always confident that they were 
children of God. The Apostle says to his Corin- 
thian brethren. “For we know that if the earthly 
house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a 
building from God, a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. For verily in this we groan, 
longing to be clothed upon with our habitation 
which is from heaven: if so be that being clothed 
we shall not be found naked. For indeed we that 
are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; 
not for that we would be unclothed, but that we 
would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may 
be swallowed up of life. Now he that wrought us 
for this very thing is God, who gave unto us the 
earnest of the Spirit. Being therefore always of 
good courage, and knowing that, whilst we are at 
home in the body, we are absent from the Lord 
(for we walk by faith, not by sight) ; we are of 
good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be 
absent from the body, and to be at home with the 
Lord.” — 2 Cor., 5:1.8. The same writer says to the 
Romans, “being made free from sin, ye became 
servants of righteousness.” — Rom., 6:18. Again, 


190 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


he says to the Thessalonians, “knowing, brethren 
beloved of God, your election.” — 1 Thes., 1:4. John 
says, “Beloved, now we are children of God.” — 1 
John, 3:2. Job, who lived back in the dim twi- 
light age of the world, says, “But as for me, I 
know that my redeemer liveth, and at last he will 
stand up upon the earth: And after my skin, even 
this body, is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall 
I see God.” — Job, 19:25-26. No doubt expressed here. 
These men knew no “valley of doubt and despair,” 
but they knew of a surety that they had “passed 
out of death into life.” If they knew it, why not 
us know it? We can have the same evidence of our 
pardon that they had of theirs. The secret of their 
confidence and of our confidence is to be found in 
the passage, “The spirit himself beareth witness 
with our spirit, that we are children of God.” — 
Rom., 8:16. 

In the Scripture just quoted, the Apostle em- 
phatically declares that the Holy Spirit bears wit- 
ness with our spirit, that we are the children of 
God. We ask then, How does the Spirit do this? 
Before we launch out into the main discussion of 
this subject, we want to call the reader’s attention 
to the fact that the Apostle says that the Spirit 
bears witness “with our spirit,” and not, as is 


191 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


often quoted, “to our spirit/’ When we say that 
we bear witness “with our brother,” we mean that 
our brother and ourself both testify to the same 
fact, but when we bear witness “to our brother,” 
we alone do the testifying. The Scripture now un- 
der discussion says, “the Spirit himself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are children of 
God,” thus showing that the Holy Spirit and our 
spirit must agree and both testify to the same fact — 
that “we are children of God.” What, then, did 
the Apostle mean by saying that the Spirit him- 
self beareth witness with our spirit? This is a 
question of fact and, like all others of like nature, 
must be determined by competent evidence, which 
can be adduced only from the Bible answers from 
the following questions: 1st, How does the Holy 
Spirit bear witness with our spirit? 2d, What must 
be the moral condition of our lives before the Holy 
Spirit and our spirit can agree and both testify to 
the fact that we are God’s children? 3d, How does 
our spirit bear witness with the Holy Spirit? 

1st, How does the Holy Spirit bear witness with 
our spirit? 

The point to be decided is, “are we children of 
God?” The question as to whether or not we have 
been adopted into the family of God can be settled 


192 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


only by two witnesses— the Holy Spirit and our 
spirit. They must agree and both testify to the 
fact that, to their personal knowledge, they know 
we have been translated out of the kingdom of 
darkness, into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. 
How, then, does the Holy Spirit testify, or bear 
witness to the fact that we are saved from sin? In 
this, as well as in our conversion, the Holy Spirit 
speaks through medium. The New Testament is 
the means through which He puts forth His testi- 
mony. We have none of the Holy Spirit’s testi- 
mony by the inspiration of our own minds, neither 
have we the living voices of inspired men to in- 
form us, but we have what is equal to this in point 
of value and infallibility, the New Testament, which 
is the written dispositions of the Holy Spirit. 
Through it. He bears witness with our spirit that 
we are children of God, or, if not children, He 
searches our hearts, lays bare before our eyes the 
very secrets of our lives, and shows us what man- 
ner of men we are. One man may ask just here, 
“Is it Scriptural to represent the statements of the 
New Testament as being the testimony of the Holy 
Spirit?” We think so. The Apostles heard Jesus 
speak the things concerning His prospective King- 
dom, but they could not remember all He told them. 


193 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


Therefore, God, after the ascension of His Son, 
sent them the Holy Spirit to guide them into all 
truth and to bring to their minds the things which 
Jesus had told them. The Apostles were not only 
dependent upon the Holy Spirit for knowledge of 
Spiritual things, but the very words they uttered 
were the words of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to 
them, “It is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit/' 
— Mark, 13:11. Again, Luke, in describing the 
scenes on Pentecost when the promised Monitor 
came, says, “And they were all filled wfith the 
Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, 
as the Spirit gave them utterance.” — Acts 2:4. The 
truths the Apostles learned by the Holy Spirit 
speaking directly to them, they spoke to the world. 
Paul says, “Unto us God revealed them through the 
Spirit,” “which things also we speak, not in words 
which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy 
Spirit teacheth.” The precious truths which the 
Apostles learned from the Holy Spirit were writ- 
ten down by the unerring hand of Inspiration, true 
copies of which have been handed down through 
the generations preceding us, and today, while we 
can not hear the living voices of inspired men, we 
have, in a written form, the words which “the 
Spirit teacheth.” These words make up the whole 


194 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


of the New Testament and constitute the medium 
through which the Holy Spirit puts forth His tes- 
timony. 

2d, What must be the moral condition of our 
lives before the Holy Spirit and our spirit can 
agree and both testify to the fact that we are chil- 
dren of God? 

The whole matter of the Holy Spirit’s testi 
mony resolves itself into this, the Holy Spirit 
through the New Testament, teaches that men who 
pass through certain changes in mind and life, and, 
ever afterward, maintain a Christ-like character, 
are children of God. In other words, the Holy 
Spirit, through His medium, tells us just what we 
must do and be, before He will, with our spirit, tes- 
tify to the fact that we are children of God. Some 
human judges can be influenced, juries bribed, and 
witnesses bought, but that will not be true in the 
great court in which we must all be tried before 
we can enter in through the gates into the city. 
There we will be brought before a Judge that is in- 
fallible, a Jury that acts upon nothing but law and 
evidence, an Attorney w T ho, while touched by our 
infirmities, hates sin and unrighteousness, and a 
Witness who is familiar with the condition of our 
lives, and, while testifying, knows no variableness 


195 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


or shadow of turning. But the Holy Spirit has not 
only subpoenaed us to appear before this great 
court when it shall convene on that day when God 
shall judge the secrets of men, but, through the New 
Testament, He has stipulated certain conditions and 
says that, if we will comply with them, He will tes- 
tify to the fact that we are children of God. Blessed 
promise. The conditions that He imposes upon us 
are not hard. He says the yoke is easy and the 
burden is light. Jesus did all and more for our sal- 
vation than He asks us to do. The Holy Spirit tells 
us through the New Testament Scriptures that, if 
we will do the following things, He will bear wit- 
ness with our spirit that we are God’s children: 
1st, He says, We must believe all the Bible teaches. 
2d, We must repent sincerely of all of our sins. 3d, 
We must confess Christ as our Saviour before men. 
4th, We must be baptized into the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 5th, We must, ever 
after this, lead a faithful, consecrated life. When 
we do all of these things sincerely and from the 
heart, the Holy Spirit has promised to testify to 
the fact that we are God’s children, and our heav- 
enly Father has promised to give us an entrance 
into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. 


196 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


3d, How does our spirit bear witness with the 
Holy Spirit that we are children of God’? Or, in 
other words, How can our spirit testify to the fact 
that we have passed out of death into life? 

The idea that our spirit can and does testify 
to the moral condition of our own lives and the 
relation which we bear to God, may seem strange 
and even absurd to some people, yet it is true. 
Speaking of the Gentiles, Paul says, “In that they 
show the work of the law written in their hearts, 
their conscience bearing witness therewith, and 
their thoughts one with another accusing or else 
excusing them.” — Rom., 2:15. Again, the same 
writer says, “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, 
my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy 
Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain 
in my heart.” — Rom., 9:1-2. Here are two wit- 
nesses, Paul, in the aggregate, testifying to the 
brethren and his own spirit or conscience answer- 
ing to the same thing in him. Man is a dual be- 
ing, consisting of flesh and spirit. Paul denom- 
inates them as the outer and inner man. In life, 
they are blended into one harmonious nature or 
being, but they are separated in death. Then the 
flesh goes back to the earth from which it came 
and the spirit goes to God who gave it. The con 


197 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


science or spirit passes upon the desires of the hu- 
man heart and deeds of the body, as Paul says of 
the Gentiles, either “accusing or else excusing 
them.” The nature of this judgment, however, de- 
pends upon the previous training or teaching of the 
conscience. To illustrate, the conscience of an in- 
dividual who has been taught from childhood that 
it is wrong to defile the body by the use of pro- 
fane language and strong drink, can not agree with 
the conscience of an indivual who thinks it no harm 
to swear and get drunk. Our conscience or spirit, 
if taught by the Holy Spirit that we, in order to 
be children of God, must believe all that God says 
and obey all that He commands, can testify to the 
fact as to whether or not we have believed and 
obeyed; and, if having done so, can bear witness 
with the Holy Spirit that we are children of God. 
John says, “And hereby we know that we know 
him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, 
I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is 
a liar, and the truth is not in him.” — 1 John, 2:3-4. 
We have already learned that the New Testament 
is the medium through which the Holy Spirit bears 
witness with our spirit. Through it He says to us, 
“You must believe all the Bible teaches.” Our 
spirit knows whether or not we believe and so does 


198 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


the Holy Spirit. There is no use for us to tell Him 
that we have done a thing when we have not. There 
is no use to lie to Him. Ananias and Sapphira tried 
that and, as a result of their telling the Holy Spirit a 
falsehood, were stricken dead. The Holy Spirit says, 
“You must repent of all your sins.” Our spirit 
knows whether or not we have repented. If we 
have turned from and, as far as possible, made right 
the wrongs of our lives, our spirit knows it and can 
honestly and truthfully say, “We have repented.” 
The Holy Spirit says, “You must confess Christ as 
your Saviour before men.” If we have, from the 
very depths of our hearts, publicly acknowledged 
Jesus as our personal Saviour, our spirit knows it 
and can truthfully and conscientiously certify to the 
fact that “We have confessed Christ as our Sav- 
iour before men.” The Holy Spirit says, “You 
must be baptized into the name of the Father, Son 
and Holy Spirit.” If we, in humble obedience, have 
gone down and been buried with Christ in the 
waters of baptism and come forth therefrom in 
the likeness of His own resurrection, our spirit 
knows it and can declare that “We have been bap- 
tized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit.” Again, the Holy Spirit says, “Having 
obeyed the first principles of the gospel whereby 


199 


THE HOLY SPIRIT 


you have made yourselves free from sin (Rom., 
6:17), give all diligence, in your faith supply vir- 
tue ; and in your virtue knowledge ; and in your 
knowledge self-control; and in your self-control 
patience; and in your patience godliness; and in 
your godliness brotherly kindness ; and in your 
brotherly kindness love.” — 2 Peter, 5:7. Our spirit 
says, “All these things we have earnestly and faith- 
fully done.” Then the Holy Spirit says, “You are 
the children of God,” and “hereby you know that 
you know him if you keep his commandments.” 

THE END. 


200 


“From the Throttle 
to the Throne” 

A book of two hundred and eighty pages, by 
Thos. H. Wilson, author of “The Holy Spirit” 


This book is a Railroad, Hunting, Love, and Re- 
ligious romance, is printed on good paper, in large 
clear type, and has its Author’s picture in the front 
The object of the work is to expose the erroneous 
ideas held by Infidels, Mormons and others who 
make false claims as to the teaching of the Bible, 
and at the same time bring out, in a readable ro- 
mance, the position and doctrine of the Church of 
Christ. Read what two prominent men say about 
the book and order a copy at once. 

“ ‘From the Throttle to the Throne* is a book of unusual merit 
and attractiveness. Its first pages fascinate and its following pages 
are full of Illumination, Information, and Inspiration. It is a fine 
story with a high moral vein running like a thread of gold through 
the love story so suitably interwoven with the highest religious 
truths the world has ever known. It is true to life and will fit and 
fill and finish every life effected by it. My advice is, buy it for 
any one whom you would like to bless and benefit.” — Dr. Richard 
Martin, “Martin Family” National Evangelist, 3433 Pierce Ave., 
Chicago, Illinois. 


“Kansas City, Missouri, December 10, 1909. 
THOS. H. WILSON, Verona, Missouri. 

Dear Sir: — I have just finished reading the book entitled ‘From 
the Throttle to the Throne’ of which you are the author. I un- 
hesitatingly pronounce it one of the masterpieces of American lit- 
erature and a work which should be in every home. There is just 
enough of the ‘romance of the rail* interwoven in the plot to make 
it especially interesting to railroad men, while the high moral in- 
fluence which it exerts makes it a most desirable work to place in 
the hands of the ‘coming generation.’ It is intensely interesting, 
teaching a lesson from which both old and young can profit; its 
production is a valuable acquisition to modern literature and the 
influence which it will exert will make the world better. To those 
who have not had the pleasure of reading this work, I cheerfully 
recommend that they do so, thus enjoying one of the most interesting 
romances from the pen of any American Author, and profiting by its 
high moral tendencies. Congratulating you and trusting that the 
reading public may be favored with other works from your pen, I 
am, Respectfully yours, J. F. Riley, Third Vice Grand President, 
Brotherhood of Railway Clerks.” 

Order copy of this book today. 

Price: Cloth, one dollar; paper, fifty cents, postpaid 
Address Thos. H. Wilson, Verona, Mo. 




























































































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